Quirk Type: Memento Mori
by Rose Jennison
Summary: 'Memento Mori' seemed like a good thing to call his quirk. It was important to remember that all things die. Because if one person denies death too long, another must take their place. Pushing Daises AU. Izuku's quirk can bring the dead to life with a touch, but another touch will kill them permanently. And keeping someone alive too long means another must die in their place.
1. Chapter 1

"You want us to wait? That's it?" A young Midoriya Inko asked the doctor.

"I'm afraid that's all the advice I can offer you, ma'am. The x-rays are telling us that your son is missing the extra toe joint, so he should have a quirk. However he should have been showing some signs of one by now, either yours, his father's, or some combination of the two. The fact that he hasn't shown any sign of one yet either means he is an extremely late bloomer, or that he will never develop one at all. Not developing a parent's quirk, despite lacking that extra toe joint, is very rare; but it's not unheard of. In either case there's nothing you can do but wait and see what happens."

"He definitely hasn't shown any sign of one of our quirks, but isn't it possible he could develop a different one? I mean, when people first started developing quirks they certainly weren't inheriting them from their parents. So maybe he has one and we've just been missing the signs." Her voice had taken on a desperate tone.

"You bring up an interesting point, and I suppose it's possible. There have been a few documented cases of people developing quirks not associated with their heritage, even after DNA tests have confirmed their parentage. Again, it's extremely rare, but it can happen."

"I see." Midoriya Inko sighed with relief. She smiled and turned to her young son, who was sitting on the stool next to her. "You hear that Izuku? There's still a chance you can become a hero like All Might! We'll just have to keep our minds open."

Five year old Midoriya Izuku smiled back at her, despite the guilt and shame twisting his stomach. He hated lying to her, but seeing her sad and disappointed would be even worse.

"Okay Mom, I'll try my best!"

"I know you will sweetheart."

She hugged him, and Izuku had to force himself not to pull away.

 _'Your quirk doesn't work like that. She's still alive, so hug her back.'_ He told himself. After a moment, he puts his arms around her as well.

He knew that his mother would be happy to hear that he had a quirk, but it would only last a moment. Because then he would have to tell her what his quirk was and how he had discovered it.

He couldn't do that. He couldn't tell her; he couldn't tell anyone. It would be better if everyone thought that a mistake of genetics made him Quirkless.

* * *

Izuku doesn't know precisely how old his father lived to be. Part of that was because Izuku didn't know what time his father had been born; the other part was that Izuku hadn't timed how long his father lay dead on the ground before being brought back to life.

His father's quirk was fire-breath. Which Izuku thought was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, having both fire-breath and a fiery temper sometimes resulted in damage to the apartment. This didn't make Izuku or his mother afraid; it was always an accident and Hisashi was always very apologetic when it happened. He even went so far as to fix all the damage himself.

In hindsight, he really should have just paid someone to do the repairs.

Izuku had been playing in the living room when he heard a loud thud. Izuku remembered that his father had been working on replacing some blades on the kitchen ceiling fan. Had he dropped something? Curious, Izuku put down his All Might action figure and went into the dining room.

There must have been plenty of things off about the room when he walked in, but Izuku only had eyes for two. The dark stain on the corner of the table, and his father's body on the ground.

"Dad?"

His father did not respond. Izuku knelt down beside him.

"Daddy, are you okay?"

He didn't make a sound. Maybe he just needed to be shaken a bit, like Mom does when Dad falls asleep on the couch. Izuku reached out and touched his father's arm.

The man gasped and opened his eyes.

"I...huh? Izuku what...what happened?"

"I don't know. I heard a crash."

His dad pushed himself up, groaning as he did so. He looked around, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head.

"Looks like I must have slipped when I was working on the fan. Lucky I just got knocked out, that could have ended a lot worse. Sorry to scare you son." Hisashi smiled down at his boy. Izuku smiled back, but then pointed to corner of the table.

"Dad, what's that dark stuff?"

Hisashi looked at the dark stain, frowned, and then stopped rubbing his head so he could look at his hand. There was a coating of blood on it.

"Guess I didn't get out unscathed after all. Go get the first aid kit Izuku."

Izuku nodded and quickly did as he was told. He wanted to make sure his Daddy was going to be okay. As Izuku was getting the kit out of the hall closet he heard the front door open and close.

"Oh my goodness! Hisashi! Honey, what happened?!" His Mom cried as she entered the kitchen.

Izuku grabbed the kit and ran back.

"Inko, dear, its fine. I just got a little bump on the head."

"That looks like more than a bump to me." Inko accused. Izuku entered the room, and his mother immediately turned to him. She sighed when she saw what he was holding.

"Izuku, thank goodness you're okay. And you got the first aid kit, good job." She took the kit from him, much to Izuku's relief. His Mom was a nurse, so she would know what to do.

Inko knelt down and started to gently examine the back of her husband's head. Hisashi did his best not to move. Izuku handed his mother items from the first aid kit while she berated his father on not being more careful.

"I really think I should take you into the hospital, Hisashi."

"Oh come on Inko, I feel fine."

"That could change quickly."

"And I'll let you know if it does. With you and Izuku here to help me, I've got nothing to worry about." Hisashi smiled, and then reached out to ruffle his son's hair. The moment his hand came into contact with Izuku's head the light left his eyes, and he slumped to the floor.

"Hisashi!" Inko was by her husband's side immediately. "Izuku, get me the phone, now!"

Everything after that was a blur. Looking back on it, Izuku would never be able to tell anyone the exact sequence of events that happened after he brought his mother the phone. All he could remember was the outcome.

His father was taken to the hospital, but he was declared dead immediately. The doctor was confused by Izuku's description of events, because she said that the internal injuries she found should have killed him instantly. She didn't say that to him of course, he overheard her talking with another doctor. They got a ride home from one of his mother's coworkers, because Inko was in too much shock to drive.

The one detail he did remember about that night, was seeing Kacchan and his mother in the hospital. He didn't remember where exactly, just that Kacchan's mother was yelling at a doctor. Neither of them noticed Izuku or his mother.

After her coworker left, Inko sat down on the couch and began to cry. Izuku crawled into her lap and cried with her. She held him tightly through the night, until they both fell asleep from pure exhaustion.

Izuku didn't have much to do over the next few days. His mother was busy making arrangements, and Izuku had been excused from school. He almost wished he hadn't been. He didn't want to face his classmates yet, but he couldn't just sit around either. He had to _do something._

While laying in his room, he thought about the way his father had gotten up when Izuku touched him, and how he'd fallen when he touched Izuku again.

 _'I didn't touch Dad at all in between, did I? No, I'm pretty sure I didn't. But what does that mean?'_

Izuku had already become obsessed with quirks. A lot of the first 'super heroes' had written stories about how they first discovered their quirks. He couldn't read well yet, but he often requested quirk discovery stories at bedtime.

His father had done different voices for each story. Izuku shook his head and buried his face into his pillow, trying regain his train of thought.

A good number of stories involved the hero realizing something strange happened when they touched things. Was that what had happened that night? The doctor said that his father should have died right after falling. What if he really had? Could Izuku's touch bring people back from the dead? No, it couldn't be that simple. He'd touched his father's body after he was brought to the hospital, and his father didn't come back to life then. Did it only work once per person? Some quirks had limits like that.

The first big question was: Had Izuku done something, or was it just a coincidence? He had to figure that out somehow, but how would he test it? A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts.

"Izuku, dear?"

Izuku got up and opened the door. He'd never seen his mother look so tired, not even after working a double shift at the hospital. Still, she did her best to smile at him.

"The garbage gets picked up today, but I need to make some more calls. Could you bring it out to the dumpster for me?"

"Sure Mom! I can do other chores too, when I get back."

"Thank you sweetie. I'll let you know if there's anything else."

Izuku started out carrying the garbage bag, but got tired and started dragging it once he was outside. When he reached the dumpster, he was reminded how tall the side of it was. Izuku had to shove and jump and struggle to get the bag inside, but eventually he succeeded. He plopped down on the ground to catch his breath.

Now that he wasn't fighting with the bag, Izuku noticed a droning sound on the far side of the dumpster. She shuffled closer to inspect it, and wrinkled his nose. Someone had just dropped their garbage next to the dumpster rather than putting it inside, and something in the bags had gone very bad. The source of the noise turned out to be a bunch of insects buzzing around the two bags. It must have been there a while, because there seemed to be just as many dead bugs as there were were live ones.

An idea suddenly struck Izuku. The bugs on the ground were clearly dead, some flies were laying on their backs and everything. If Izuku really did have the power to bring dead things to life, would it work on bugs as well as humans?

There was only one way to find out.

Izuku pinched his nose with one hand, and reached out with the other. He brushed his finger against a dead fly's leg.

The insect's wings started to buzz immediately.

Izuku gaped as the fly flew off to join the others around the bag. Had he really just done that? He poked all the insects within arms reach, about 10 in total, and each of them rose up from the ground seconds after he touched them.

 _'This...this is real. I brought those flies back to life. I have a quirk.'_ Izuku thought. He always thought the discovery of his quirk would make him feel important and happy, like it had for Kacchan. Right now, Izuku didn't know what he was feeling. He wasn't even sure he was feeling anything at all.

Maybe he would figure that out once he answered his other question. If he could bring things to life, why didn't his father come back when Izuku touched him again? He couldn't test it on the flies, because they were too fast for him to catch. He'd have to find something that wouldn't get away so fast. Izuku searched the ground, but kept glancing back to the flies he'd touched. They all stayed gathered around one bag, crawling on it's surface like they had never been dead.

Izuku noticed movement just past where he was looking, and shifted his gaze just in time to see a group a flies a little further away drop to the ground. Not land, drop. That was...weird. Was it normal for bugs to all die together like that? Maybe they had all eaten from something poisonous in the other bag.

Little drops of dread started to form in the back of Izuku's mind. He ignored them and went back to searching. He spotted some curled up centipedes, and decided to give those a try. He touched one, and after a moment the centipede was wriggling and getting back on its feet. Izuku watched it crawl a couple inches, then reached out and touched it again. The centipede immediately stopped moving.

Izuku waited, seeing if it had just frozen for a bit. The centipede did not move however, and it didn't even curl up when Izuku tried poking it again. It was dead again, and clearly not coming back.

So...one touch brings life, a second sends it away permanently? That was almost too simple. Whenever heroes on TV talked about their quirks there was a bunch of rules to how their quirks were used. Izuku hadn't even needed to touch the insects with all five fingers to bring them back.

He would have to investigate this further.

Izuku pushed himself up and brushed his hands off on his shorts. He looked down at the centipede he'd been experimenting with, and quickly bent down to pick it up. He could hide it under a cup or something in his room, see if it ever came back to life. It was a long shot, but if there was any chance the use of his quirk would cause his father to come back to life, he wanted to know about it.

His mom gave him a bone crushing hug when he got back inside. Apparently he'd been gone long enough she'd just about gone out after him.

"Don't scare me like that Izuku! The thought of something happening to you is just-" She looked to be near tears again.

"Mom! I'm sorry I...I just had trouble getting the bag to go inside."

"Oh, I'm such a scatterbrain Izuku, I should have thought of that."

"Your brains aren't scattered!" Izuku argued indignantly. "You're too smart for them to be scattered." Izuku felt warmth bubble inside him when his mother let out a small laugh, the first one he'd heard from her since that day.

"Thank you Izuku, you always know just what to say." She ruffled his hair. "I think it's getting a little late to make calls now. Do you want to help me get dinner ready?"

"Yeah!"

Happy in the knowledge that his mother was counting on him, Izuku let thoughts of quirks fall to the side for a bit.

* * *

Inko wanted to give her son time to grieve before having to face his class. She could tell Izuku was not very popular with the other kids, a fact she blamed mainly on Bakugo Katsuki's reaction to her son not manifesting a quirk yet. She didn't want Izuku to have to deal with the treatment 'Kacchan' and the other kids might give him on top of everything else right now.

Even so, she realized that being stuck at home with nothing to do until the funeral wouldn't be good either. So after a couple of days she and Izuku walked to his school to pick up his missed work.

Inko had called ahead and made sure it was okay for them to come by after normal school hours. By the time they arrived the school was empty, except for a few staff members. The playground could be seen from the school's office, so Inko was okay with Izuku playing outside while she talked to the secretary.

"I'm very sorry to hear about what happened." The elderly woman said. "Just let us know if there's anything else we can do to help."

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." Inko said softly. She leafed through the pages, looking at the different assignments. She looked up when the secretary hummed thoughtfully.

"Is there something else I should know? Any projects going on?"

"Hm? Oh no, the teacher didn't mention anything like that. I was just thinking about how different people react to grief. Your politeness is much welcome after what I got from Bakugo Mitsuki earlier. Not that I blame her of course."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh...I suppose you wouldn't know. As it turns out, the Bakugo family has also experienced a loss. Katsuki's father, Masaru, passed on, the same night as your husband I believe."

Inko could only stare for a moment, baffled by the sheer unlikelihood of those two deaths occurring on the same night. She suddenly felt a bit guilty for her uncharitable thoughts towards the neighbor boy.

"I had no idea. Do you know what happened?"

"Apparently, the man had a heart attack. I hear Mitsuki really chewed the doctor out for that diagnosis. Masaru was in very good health, you see."

"That is very odd." Inko admitted, then looked down sadly. "But I guess life just deals us an unexpected hand now and then."

The secretary lay her hand over Inko's, and gave it a brief squeeze. Inko gave her a grateful smile. She looked out the window, and watched Izuku play on the swings. She had hoped she wouldn't have to deliver more news like this to him so soon.

* * *

Izuku had cried when his mother told him about Kacchan's father. He hated the idea that his first friend was going through the same pain that he was, and he'd begged his mother to drive him over to Kacchan's house. He wanted to be there for his friend!

His mother had held him tightly while he cried, and said they would try to find the time to visit soon. Izuku felt guilty at the way his mother's voice choked up as she said it. She was already so sad, and now he was making her more sad! He really was a crybaby, just like Kacchan always said!

"I'm sorry Mom! I shouldn't- I- I'll t-try not to cry so much..."

"No, no sweetie, you don't have to d-do that. It's okay to cry. It's o-okay. Especially for s-something like this."

Once both of them had calmed down, they headed home and made supper. Izuku had the idea to make something to bring to Kacchan and his mother when they visited. Despite her tiredness, Inko happily helped her son make a pot of stew for the Bakugo family.

As Izuku lay in bed that night, he finally let the full details of what his mother had told him sink in.

Kacchan's dad had mysteriously died the same night as Izuku's dad. The same night that Izuku discovered his quirk.

The trickles of dread were starting to pool in Izuku's gut.

It was just a coincidence. Of course it was. Stranger things had happened, plenty of things, plenty of times. The appearance of Quirks was stranger than this, and now almost everyone had one. Even a 'Deku' like him had one now.

But that was precisely the problem. Izuku had a quirk now. He had no idea how he got it, neither of his parents had anything close to it, and that meant he was in the dark. He had figured out some of the rules, but there could be more. Lots of quirks could go bad if you didn't use them right. Even heroes, who trained so much, could cause damage with their quirks. The news always covered it if a hero agency went bankrupt because their heroes caused too much property damage.

Had it only been a coincidence? Had his quirk done something to Kacchan's dad?

These thoughts ran around and around in Izuku's mind, and prevented him from getting any sleep. He was still awake when the sky began to brighten, and the birds began to sing outside.

Izuku startled when a dull thud came from his window. It was enough to interrupt his anxious thoughts for a bit, and let curiosity take their place. Izuku went to his window and opened it. He looked down, and noticed a small, feathery body on the pavement below. A bird had flown into his window.

 _'Is it dead?'_ Izuku wondered. His window was only on the second floor, so maybe it was just stunned.

 _'I'll go down and check.'_ Izuku decided. _'Maybe I can help it!'_ With his new quirk, he'd be able to help even if the bird was dead.

His doubts nagged at him as he tiptoed out of his apartment and down the stairs. Should he really use his quirk if it meant something else would die?

He didn't know that would happen though. If he had the ability to help, he should do his best to try.

The little brown bird didn't stir at all when Izuku, still in his pajamas, kneeled down next to it. He leaned down and watched it closely, but the eyes did not blink and it's chest didn't rise. He didn't know if it was the window or the fall, but either way the little bird was definitely dead.

Izuku leaned back, took a deep breath, and brushed his hand against the bird's side.

The bird's head twitched, wings fluttered, and the bird flew off with a frightened tweet.

Izuku watched the bird as it flew, and saw it land on a nearby power line. A number of birds were already perched on the wire, and were twittering among themselves. His bird landed on the left end of the line, and started to imitate them. Izuku smiled softly at the sight, and for a moment he thought this quirk might not be so bad.

Then a bird on the other side of the line dropped like stone.

The smile fell from Izuku's face, and his gut twisted. Kacchan's father...the flies...the bird...

Something his teacher once said to him sprang to mind. 'Once is chance, twice is coincidence, third time is a pattern.'

It had happened to many times to be a coincidence now. He used his quirk, and something died a short while later. In Izuku's mind, this left one undeniable fact.

 ** _'Kacchan's father is dead because of me.'_**

Izuku almost threw up onto the sidewalk.

He ran back to his room and burrowed under the covers, as if that would hide him from the awful truth. Izuku cried into his pillow, and wished he was Quirkless.

* * *

Inko couldn't understand what had happened to Izuku overnight. Even with the death of Hisashi and the news about Masaru, her son had still been mostly himself. He'd been crying a lot more than usual of course, they both had, but he had still been helpful and animated. He'd been doing his best to be strong and, though she wished it wasn't necessary, she'd been very proud of him for that.

Today though, Izuku was listless. It took a while to get him to respond to anything, even simple questions, and he didn't offer to help with things like normal. He didn't read or watch TV or play, he just sat. The only thing that was stopped her from taking him to the hospital was that he did respond to her questions after a while. He said he hadn't fallen or got hurt at all, and he wasn't feeling sick, he was just tired.

Maybe the reality of everything was finally settling in for him. Grief had a lot of stages, and no one experienced them quite the same way. She'd just have to do her best to be there for him.

Inko had thought that the visit to the Bakugo family would shake Izuku out of his numbness, and she was right. But instead of being eager or nervous, Izuku had looked terrified. She had rushed to assure him that he didn't have to come with, that she could deliver the refrigerated stew by herself. It looked like he might take her up on that offer, but at the last minute Izuku said he would come with.

Inko carried the pot while Izuku marched along beside her. She sneaked a glance at him now and then, to see if he was okay. He walked with determination, but he looked so nervous.

He'd been so eager to do this yesterday. What had changed?

They were at the Bakugo's door before she knew it.

"Are you sure you're okay Izuku?" She asked.

"Yeah...I have to do this."

Izuku's voice trembled, and Inko mentally prepared herself to hand off the food and end this quickly if it became to much for her son. She used her elbow to ring the doorbell, and a few moments later the door swung open.

"What the fuck do you- oh." Bakugo Mitsuki had looked furious when she opened the door, but it morphed into confusion when she saw who it was.

"Hello Mitsuki, I hope we aren't intruding, but the school secretary told us what happened. Izuku wanted to come over and make sure Katsuki was okay, and we thought you might appreciate not cooking for one night." Inko held the stew out to the other woman.

"Shit, Inko, you didn't have to do that." Mitsuki said, but she carefully took the pot.

"Well, it wasn't just me. Izuku helped me make it." Inko said with a small smile.

"Damn, you help you're Mom out with shit like this?" She asked Izuku. He didn't quite meet her eyes, but she didn't seem to mind and turned back to Inko. "You got a real sweet boy Inko. You said he wanted to see Katsuki right?" She turned around.

"HEY KATSUKI! GET YOU SHITTY ASS OUT OF BED! YOU HAVE A VISITOR!"

"O-oh, he doesn't have to come if he doesn't want to! I know how hard this is, it's been hard on Izuku too."

"What's been hard on him?" Bakugo Mitsuki asked as she turned back to them.

At that point, Inko realized that the Bakugo's hadn't heard about Hisashi. She did her best to explain without breaking out into tears. Saying it out loud was still so hard.

"Holy fuck, Hisashi too? Same night and everything?! Goddammit! How does that even happen?! Fuck!"

"I don't know." Inko said softly. She didn't notice that Izuku had started trembling.

"I'm here bitch, what the fuck do you want?!" Katsuki's voice sounded from behind his mother.

"Watch your fucking language!" When Mitsuki turned to address her son, Katsuki was able to see the Midoriya's in the doorway. He scowled.

"What do you want Deku?"

"You're friend came here to make sure your shitty ass was okay, and that's on top of his own Dad being dead. Show some fucking gratitude!"

This actually gave Katsuki pause, and he looked more closely at Izuku.

"You're Dad too?" Izuku nodded, but didn't look at the boy. Katsuki scowled more and looked away. "The world is so fucked up right now."

Izuku didn't say anything. Inko looked down at him, and saw how much he was shaking.

"Izuku? Sweetie?" She knelt down and put a hand on his back. His breath hitched and Inko's heart stuttered. She looked up at Mitsuki.

"We should probably go, there's a lot to attend to...as I'm sure you know."

"Yeah, they gotta make dying so fucking complicated." Mitsuki growled, but it didn't have much fire.

"Izuku...is there anything you want to say too the Bakugos before we go?" Inko asked softly.

Izuku raised his head slowly. He looked up at Mitsuki, his eyes filling with tears. He turned his gaze to Katsuki, and when the boy looked back at him, the damn broke and tears streamed down Izuku's face.

"I'm sorry Kacchan! I'm so sorry!


	2. Chapter 2

Izuku went back to school after his father's funeral, as did Kacchan. Facing the rest of his class wasn't as bad as Izuku had feared it might be. Both boys had been gone long enough for words to spread about the reasons why, so neither boy had to explain anything when they got back. A couple classmates commented on the weirdness of the two deaths happening almost at once, but Kacchan's reaction quickly silenced them.

"Oh, it's weird? No shit Sherlock! If all you've got to say is stupid shit then shut the fuck up!"

It was strange to see Kacchan go off on the other students, and not Izuku. During the time after their fathers' funerals, his old friend actually laid off him for a while. Kacchan would still call him Deku if he ever had to address him, but otherwise Kacchan would ignore him or send him weird looks.

It was unexpected, and it made Izuku feel...dissatisfied, somehow.

So it was actually kind of a relief when he was officially declared Quirkless.

The law dictated that you could only leave the 'quirk type' section of your papers blank until the age of six. You could go back and change it later if new information about your quirk came up, but by the age of six you had to fill in the blank with something.

It didn't take long for word to spread throughout the class, and that's when Izuku's world shifted back to what he now considered normal. His classmates either teased him or avoided him, the teacher's pitied him, and Kacchan cornered him after school to make sure he knew what a worthless Deku he was.

"Even with everything saying you should have a quirk you still can't get one? You really are pathetic aren't you Deku?" Kacchan sneered down at Izuku. Kacchan's 'buddies' snickered behind him.

Izuku lay on the ground, holding his hand to his cheek, and said nothing.

"Even a stupid Deku like you must know what this means, right? All your big talk about being a hero some day, and it turns out you're fucking Quirkless! You can't ever be a hero!"

Kacchan's smile turned cruel and his words sounded triumphant. No doubt, he expected this to get a rise out of Izuku. Either the boy would cry, or he would rail against his fate and try to deny the truth. He would insist that his dream was still possible, despite the fact that he was Quirkless.

Under different circumstances, if Izuku really was Quirkless, maybe that would have happened. But he did have a quirk, and that was why he couldn't deny what Kacchan was saying. He'd realized the truth the day he and his mother visited Kacchan's home.

Izuku couldn't be a hero, because heroes weren't murderers.

So Izuku didn't cry, or talk back, or break down.

Instead he smiled, sad and accepting, and said "I know."

For once, Kacchan didn't have a ready reply. So Izuku continued.

"I guess you'll have to become a hero for both of us, Kacchan. I know you'll be a great one, someday."

Kacchan's mouth worked silently for a moment. Then he grabbed Izuku by the collar, hauled him up, and snarled into his face.

"Stupid fucking Deku, I'm not doing shit for you! I'm already great, and one day I'll be the greatest hero ever and I don't need your fucking **permission** to do it!"

Kacchan threw Izuku back against the wall and stomped off, leaving the boy behind in the alleyway's trash.

* * *

After Izuku connected the dots surrounding his quirk, he began to feel unclean. He knew what his touch was capable of now, and he was constantly aware of it. He covered up as much as he could and avoided touching people, as though the deadly rebound could somehow seep out of his skin and affect those around him.

It wasn't much of a problem at school. His classmates avoided him, and the teachers weren't the kind to ruffle hair or pat backs. There was no way to avoid physical contact with Kacchan, but he generally hit areas that were already covered up.

It became a very major problem at home. Midoriya Inko expressed so much love through physical contact, through hugs and kisses and pats and nudges. So when Izuku started to shrink away from those touches Inko became very distressed.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Are you alright?"

"Are you having troubles at school?"

"Would you like to talk to someone about...everything that's happened?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Izuku wanted to reassure her, but he also didn't want to outright lie to her. He usually just gave her a simple 'yes' or 'no' and then tried to move on. She was trying to find an answer without being too pushy. He appreciated that, but he could also tell how much strain it was putting on her not to have a satisfactory answer.

She was barely holding it together over dinner one night, nearly sobbing over the meal she prepared when he once again tried to avoid the subject. That's when Izuku knew something had to change. He couldn't stand seeing her in pain, not when he knew he could do something about it.

"Mom?" Inko looked up at him. His heart clenched when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

"I...when Dad...just before he...he touched my hair. I've been...avoiding that stuff because it..."

"Because it reminded you too much of that night?" she asked quietly. Izuku bowed his head, neither confirming or denying his mother's interpretation. She took the gesture as confirmation though.

"Oh my baby! I'm so sorry! I should have thought of that!"

She was crying now, so of course he was crying with her. He got up from his chair and moved to embrace her, carefully making sure there was no actual skin to skin contact.

"No, Mom, you couldn't have known. I should have said something but I...just needed time."

"Of course sweetie, you take as much as you need."

Guilt twisted in Izuku's gut, but he was getting used to that feeling. He got it every time he saw Kacchan after all.

He had to figure out how to stop being scared, he decided. That was why he kept covering up and avoiding people. If he couldn't stop being so afraid of his quirk, then he'd keep making his mother sad.

"Mom...how do you stop being scared of something?" He asked after they had both calmed down and finished supper.

"Well...I guess one way is to make sure you understand it. Remember how you used to get so scared during thunderstorms? You actually started to think they were pretty cool after your father and I explained what made the thunder boom so loudly."

Izuku smiled at the memory, and thanked her for the advice.

He ruminated on that idea for the rest of the night. Understanding his quirk...he thought he already did. Understanding what his quirk did was what had made him so wary in the first place. But what if there was more to it than that? He only knew a couple of big rules right now, and he'd learned those through isolated incidents. What if there were a bunch of nuances that he didn't know about because he had never really explored what he could do?

He'd have to be very careful of course. He'd have to plan every little step to make sure no one got hurt. But it would be worth it not to be scared all the time, and to see his mother smile more.

Just before bed, Izuku got out a spare notebook. He wrote down all the rules he knew so far, and a few ideas about how to learn more. When he was done he wrote 'Quirk Journal' on the cover in big block letters, and hid it in the back of his bookcase.

* * *

The next day, Izuku took up a new hobby: bug collecting. He figured bugs would be the safest subject to use, since species seemed to be important to how his quirk was carried out. Give life to a fly, a fly dies. Give life to a bird, a bird dies. Give life to a human...you know.

He packed a couple of plastic containers in his school bag and stopped by the park on his way home. In one container he put live insects, and in another he put dead ones. He wasn't able to grab a whole lot, he needed more practice, but it would be enough for a start.

His mom wasn't home when he first got back, so it was easy to sneak the bugs into his room. Then he got some clear disposable cups from the kitchen. He almost lost the live bugs when he opened the container, but he was quick to trap them all under the plastic cups. He opened up the container of dead bugs and separated them using the plastic cups as well. Lastly, he took a stopwatch out of his desk drawer.

Let the testing begin.

Izuku lifted up the cup covering a dead cricket and touched it before setting the cup down again. The cricket sprung to life and Izuku hit a button on the stop watch. Then he carefully watched the living insect group. As soon as a one of the living crickets dropped dead, he hit the button again and looked down at the display. It read one minute.

He repeated the process over and over. One minute, every time.

He made a note in his Quirk Journal: 'It takes exactly 60 seconds for the replacement death to occur.'

With the few remaining insects, he tried touching them again before the 60 seconds were up. When he did this, none of the living insects died.

Quirk Journal note: 'Touching the bug again, before the 60 seconds are up, stops the replacement death from happening.'

Izuku tried touching the bugs that had been killed by the 'replacement death', and found that they sprang back to life just the same as the others. Another bug still died after one minute though.

Izuku replenished his stock of bugs every day as best he could, eventually buying a bug net with his allowance, and tried not to look suspicious when his mother complained about how the Tupperware always seems to go missing. He would eventually wash it and put it back.

Over time, he discovered several new things about his ability.

He forced himself to stay still when his mother wanted to hug him, and found that nothing bad happened to her. Or any of their neighbors.

Quirk note: 'My quirk has no effect when I touch a living being.'

He noticed that it wasn't just beetle for beetle or spider for spider. The replacement death always happened to the _exact same kind_ of insect that he'd brought back.

Quirk note: 'The replacement death always happens to something of the same species.'

He kept one of the crickets he brought back to life as a kind of pet, and didn't notice any side effects of using his power on it, as long as he didn't touch it again.

Quirk note: 'The creatures I use my quirk on seem to have a normal life span.'

He found that his quirk worked on a bug that had been stepped on, but then he accidentally stepped on it again.

Quirk note: 'My quirk seems to prevent previous injuries from effecting the subject, but won't protect them from future injuries.'

One of the plants in his classroom had gone to long without water, and had withered. He touched it out of curiosity, and suddenly it was lush and green again. Thankfully he was the only one in the room at the time.

Quirk note: 'My quirk affects plants as well as insects and animals. Also, my quirk will activate without me directing it to, so it's a 'passive' quirk.'

While experimenting with his bugs, he realized that the replacement death always happened to the individual that was closest to the one he'd touched, even if it was by less than an inch.

Quirk note: 'The replacement death is not random. It will occur to an individual of the same species that is closest to the subject I used my quirk on.'

When he realized it wasn't random, Izuku began to wonder: Could he control the replacement death? Could he direct it to another individual, or stop it from happening at all?

Izuku shuddered at the thought. Directing death? He didn't want that kind of power. He was only doing this to figure out his quirk and make it so he didn't hurt anyone anymore. Should he really try to figure this out if his ultimate plan was to never use his quirk again? What if he hurt someone while experimenting?

But what if he really could find a way to use his quirk without hurting anybody? He could do a lot of good if he managed to do that...

Izuku debated for days, continually going back and forth on what to do. If he kept using the bugs then it would be okay to try, right? If he didn't try to make the replacement death jump species...but he had no idea what would happen if he tried to force anything. His quirk use had always been passive before, and he wasn't sure if he could actively make it do anything or what effect that might have.

He started mumbling about these ideas on his way home from school one day. He'd just finished his visit to the park, he'd grabbed a new batch of live insects, and got lost in his musings as he headed for home. The strange, intense muttering caused people to avoid him and move out of his way, so he had nothing to jolt him from his thoughts until his shoulder clipped a street sign. Izuku finally looked up, and he realized that this wasn't the way home.

He knew where he was, so he wasn't scared. He had wandered into the industrial area of town. There were a lot of factories and such here, some active and some shut down. It wasn't a place he went often, but he still knew how to get back home from here. Izuku turned around to do just that, and then an idea struck him.

Nobody really lived in this area. It was all businesses and manufacturing, no homes. Right now it was late enough that none of them were open, which meant that everyone should have gone home for the day. There were no other humans around...no one to get hurt if his quirk went haywire. This would be the perfect place to test out his theories.

Izuku turned back and went deeper into the district. He decided to just set up in an alleyway, since he wasn't keen on breaking in anywhere. He found one that had a few trash bins big enough to hide behind, and brought out his two containers. He'd had a good catch today, finding a large crop of Japanese beetles. They were common, so he had a good amount of them in the 'dead' box too.

Izuku got some plastic cups out from his pack and managed to get a couple live beetles under three different cups. Once he'd done the same to the dead ones he went over the plan again. He'd try redirecting the replacement death first, because that seemed like it should be easier. If he figured out how to do that, it might lead him to being able to stop it altogether.

Izuku grouped the cups with the dead beetles together, and then put the live ones at varying lengths. He'd bring a beetle back to life, and then try to make the replacement death happen to the ones further away rather than the one that was closest.

He tried a few different things. He tried moving the beetles around after he used his power, he tried getting closer to the one he wanted to drop dead, he tried to simply will it to happen to the one he wanted, but none of it worked. Finally, Izuku brought a beetle back to life, and then focused on the insect in the furthest cup. He observed what it was doing, how it moved, and let his analytic mind catalog every little physical detail. He concentrated on that insect so much that the rest of the world seemed to fall away. Then the beetle rolled over and died.

Izuku's surprise brought him out of his hyper focus. It was almost jarring to realize that he was still in the dirty alleyway, and it took him a moment to remember what he was doing. He looked into the closer cups, and found that the beetles inside were alive and well.

He'd done it. He'd actually done it!

He immediately reset the experiment and tried again. He allowed his hyper focus to take over, and again he was able to redirect the replacement death. He was able to do it a third time too, but by then his head started to hurt really bad. He tried to do it again, but the throbbing behind his eyes distracted him, and he couldn't concentrate enough to make it happen.

That was probably enough for one day.

The pain had developed into a splitting headache by the time he got home. His mother could tell that something was up right away, and Izuku didn't see the point in hiding this pain. After making sure that Izuku hadn't hit his head on anything, Inko gave him some pain relievers and sent him to bed with a large glass of water. Before going to bed he took out his Quirk Journal.

Quirk note: 'The replacement death can be redirected, but it can only happen with a great amount of focus. Doing it too much can cause headaches.'

Izuku felt better by the next day, and was ready to experiment again. This time, he would try to keep the replacement death from happening at all.

He found his alleyway again, and set up everything just like before. Since intense focus caused death's target to change, then maybe clearing his mind would stop it.

He tried deep breathing exercises that his mother had taught him. He tried focusing on the concepts of nothingness and emptiness. It didn't work.

He went home and researched meditation techniques, and taught himself the ones based on clearing the mind. Using those didn't have an effect either.

Lastly, he tried focusing on an inanimate object. He chose a rock near the beetle he brought back, and focused on it as intensely as he had the beetles before. He was rewarded with a sharp stab of pain behind his eyes, and the closest beetle still died.

No matter what he tried, the replacement death always happened. Izuku could find no way to stop it. The little bit of control he'd managed to find wouldn't make his quirk any less deadly.

Izuku thought about that, as he lay in bed that night. It was like some sort of balancing act. If one being was given life after they had lost it, then another similar being had to lose it to maintain the balance. It seemed his quirk naturally went for the most similar life as possible, since it went next door to find another father of a young child after his father had been brought back. He could now change what individual was used to pay the price for that balance, but the price still had to be paid.

But why did Kacchan's father have to die? Izuku had brought his own father back, but he'd lost him again shortly after the 60 second time window. If it really was about balance, then shouldn't Kacchan's father have come back to life after his own father went back to being dead? Only one of them was supposed to die. Why did two lives have to be lost? How was **that** balanced?! Izuku's dad died in an accident! It shouldn't have affected anyone else! Kacchan should have gotten his dad back after Izuku made his own dead again. Or his dad should have been able to stay around because the price for his life had been paid.

It shouldn't have been both of them. It wasn't fair!

Despite this thought, the centipede he'd kept from before the funeral was still dead. He kept replacing the food in the jar he kept it in, just in case, but it never showed any signs of life. He kept one of the beetles that was a victim of replacement death, and it never came back either.

One of his teacher's had told him about a Latin saying: Memento Mori. It meant "Remember that you must die." though most just shortened it to "Remember death". It was meant to be a reminder that everyone was mortal.

All things must die. Breaking that rule, even if it was for little more than one minute, would have consequences that could never be undone. That's what Izuku's quirk had taught him.

The next morning, Izuku added something to the inside cover of his Quirk Journal.

Quirk type: Memento Mori

* * *

 **A.N.**

Yes Japanese Beetles are a thing. I'm not sure what people in Japan call them, but that's what the Wikipedia article called them. They are native to Japan and are an invasive species in the US.


	3. Chapter 3

Life was unfair. That's what Izuku had concluded after much experimentation with his quirk. The other thing he came to conclude about life, is that inevitably it goes on.

Years passed, and Izuku's life fell into a steady rhythm. He went to school, he avoided Kacchan, he went home, stopped to watch a battle if there was one, spent time with his mother, and studied before going to bed.

A couple of things tended to break up the monotony. Izuku couldn't always avoid Kacchan of course, and he'd often end up being verbally or physically assaulted by his former friend after class. Heck, sometimes it happened during class. Thankfully Kacchan kept it to mean comments while there were lots of people around; Izuku would have hated for bystanders to get hurt from Kacchan fighting with him. The teachers sometimes tried to scold Kacchan for his words, but most of the time they let it slide. The staff seemed to have accepted long ago that nothing they did would change Kacchan's behavior.

Izuku didn't hold that against the teachers, not really. Kacchan could be both an unstoppable force and an immovable object depending on his mood. Besides, Izuku deserved every ounce of former friend's ire.

Izuku could not stand for it when Kacchan aimed his vitriol at other people though. He may have deserved Kacchan's abuse, but no one else had hurt him like Izuku had. Izuku stood in Kacchan's path when he started to hurt others, knowing that it would cause his attention to be put solely on Izuku himself.

Thankfully he didn't have to be a human shield for very long. Parents started calling the school, wanting to know if the student who hurt their child had been punished. After so many incidents the school threatened Kacchan with suspension if he didn't start holding himself back. Kacchan cared too much about going to UA after middle school to risk a suspension, so he went back to using Izuku as his punching bag. His own mom probably would have called the school as well, if he ever let her see the bruises.

The other thing that broke up routine was when Izuku occasionally came up with a new test for his quirk.

Those occurrences were much more rare compared to his clashes with Kacchan. After his original manic test period his ideas for what to do with his quirk began to dwindle, but he did manage to parse out a few more details.

For example, he discovered that he could only direct the replacement death to something that was within his sight. He tried placing his target bug out of sight and then using his 'hyper focus' on the memory of it, but he always failed to change anything. He did discover that any level of visual was enough though. He was able to direct the replacement death how he wanted when he used his phone to look around a corner at his target. It had to be live feed though, it wouldn't work with just a picture or past video.

One of the more disturbing aspects of his quirk came to light when he tried to use his hyper focus to kill the insect he'd brought back to life, rather than just touching it again like usual. He figured being able to stop replacement death from a distance could be useful if he ever accidentally used his ability on something other than bugs.

He expected the bug he'd touched to drop dead after he focused for a few seconds. But instead his vision grew dark and when it brightened again it was like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. There were multiple images of everything, and he was surrounded by the tallest plants he'd ever seen. The fractured images bounced around and then there was a bug as big as he was and it was biting him and there was a dull pain in his abdomen- and then he was back.

Izuku had blinked rapidly, making sure his eyes were working right. He realized he was still in his chosen alley with his experiment set up. The closest bug to the original had died, as usual. He set up the experiment again, and ended up with a very similar 'dream'. This one ended differently though, with enormous unseen pressure. Izuku spent quite a while puzzling over what exactly happened when he focused on the being he'd brought back. His best theory was that doing so allowed him to see their last few moments of life. The first bug had died in a fight with another insect, while second had been crushed.

He made a note of this in his journal and then did his best not to think about it.

There was one truly enjoyable thing that had come as the result of all his quirk testing, the creation of additional quirk journals. Despite having given up on being a hero himself, Izuku was still obsessed with quirks. He'd start mumbling to himself while watching heroes work and fight villains, trying to figure out precisely how different quirks worked and if they could be used in other ways. One day it occurred to him that he could start keeping journals like he did for his own quirk, rather than just jotting down his thoughts on whatever paper was nearby. Before long he had an entire collection of them taking up space on his bookshelf. He kept the one for his own quirk hidden behind them.

His quirk journals also inspired his new goal in life, partially at least. Izuku watched the news every night, which commonly featured villain attacks and interviews with pro heroes. He noticed that many heroes, be they well known or obscure, took a moment to thank everyone at their hero agency at the end of interviews. His curiosity peaked, Izuku decided to look into what kind of positions were offered at hero agencies. There were a lot more options than he realized.

He found a website that posted job openings at various hero agencies. A lot of the positions dealt with public relations, which he'd been expecting. Image was important to pro heroes, and someone had to schedule media appearances and such while the heroes were out fighting crime. But there were also positions that called for business classes, statistic analysis, data management and almost all of them cited 'Graduation from a hero school's Department of Management or General Studies' as a preferred trait for applicants to have.

In all his obsessing over becoming a hero and getting into UA, he'd never looked that closely at what all courses were available at the school. Izuku did so now, and he found that UA had both of those Departments. According to the UA official website, the entry to those departments was based solely on the written test performance and previous grades.

Izuku felt something bubble up in his chest the more he read. A warmth he hadn't felt since he'd accepted that he couldn't become a hero. His actions made him unsuitable to stand on the same level as people like All Might or Present Mic or Kamui Woods, but what if he shot for a few steps lower? If he couldn't become a hero himself, then he could still help people by helping the heroes, right? Izuku was great with numbers and data, not just recording but also extrapolating. His quirk journals were a testament to that. He could remember every single public fight All Might had been involved in, and had a good catalog of all the major villain fights in his lifetime and which heroes had participated in them.

This might actually be something he could do. This would be a way for him to still go to his dream school!

He told his Mom about what he'd discovered over dinner one night, eagerly explaining the various jobs one could get on the sidelines of the hero business. She frowned at first, which confused him until she said:

"Are you sure you don't want to be a hero anymore?"

Oh, that's right. He'd never actually told he wasn't aiming to be a hero anymore; he'd just stopped talking about it.

"I'm sure Mom. I guess I just realized I needed to start thinking realistically. I can't be a hero with my...quirk status, but I really think this is something I could do. Helping out the heroes would still be pretty cool, right?"

She smiled proudly at him. "That does sound pretty cool, and you are bound to make it amazing! A smart boy like you, any hero agency would be lucky to have you!"

Izuku blushed. He didn't think words would ever be able to describe how much his mother's support meant to him. "Thanks Mom."

She quickly stood up and moved to embrace Izuku. "But I think what matters most, is that you're doing something that makes you happy."

Izuku had felt lost after he gave up on his childhood dream, but coming up with this new goal gave him a tie to it. He could help people this way, even if it was by proxy. That's more than he'd hoped for recently, and it made him very happy indeed.

* * *

Kacchan, however, was not nearly as pleased to hear the news.

The teacher just had to go and bring up that Izuku was the other student in class who was planning to apply to UA. When Kacchan heard that, he whirled on Izuku so fast that the students sitting next to them barely had time to get out of the way.

"What?! I'm going to be the only kid from this shitty school going to UA! Were you bullshitting me when you said that you weren't trying to be a hero anymore?!" Kacchan snarled at him.

"No! I wasn't lying! I'm going to apply to UA for the General and Management departments. You'll still be the only one here going for the hero course! I'm not trying to go against you, honest!"

Thankfully the teacher intervened before the fight could go any further. Izuku knew that his old friend wouldn't let that be the end of it though, so he was hardly surprised when Kacchan and his friends/lackeys cornered him after class was let out.

"What the fuck were you going on about Deku?" Kacchan demanded.

"Huh?"

"That stuff about general department and management, the fuck was that?"

"O-oh, well, UA is most known for the hero classes of course, but they also have a General Department and a Management Department for people who want to work with heroes but not be one themselves. I was thinking, maybe, that if I graduated with classes from those departments then I could work at a hero agency." Izuku fiddled with the quirk journal still sitting on his desk. "I'm pretty good at making observations, at least I think I am, so I was thinking that if I got more training in that then maybe I could finally put them to some good use, and help heroes find new ways to fight villains, or at least help the agency help them-"

Izuku was getting dangerously close to 'extensive mumbling' territory, which Kacchan must have sensed because he cut Izuku off.

"Those fucking journals again?! You're even dumber than I thought Deku! Who the fuck would want to listen to the dumbass ideas of a quirkless loser? And where the hell do you get off thinking you could tell pro heroes what to do?!"

Izuku blinked in confusion. "What-but-I didn't mean it like-"

Kacchan snatched the journal out of Izuku's hands. He slapped it between his palms and activated his quirk, covering the journal with burns and reducing parts to ash. Izuku's heart stuttered seeing his hard work, and the results of his one talent, being destroyed. Before Izuku could move to stop him, Kacchan threw what was left of the journal out the window.

"That's what I think of your shitty _observations_ Deku. Go ahead and try to show off at UA, you'll just end up embarrassing yourself." With that, Kacchan and his followers left.

Izuku waited just long enough to make sure the group was gone before barreling out of the room. He made his way down the stairs as fast as he could, making sure to take a round about way so he wouldn't run into Kacchan again, and found the area of the grounds his journal would have landed in. It was just his luck that it had landed halfway into a small pond.

 _'If I get it home quickly and dry it out, I should be able to salvage some of what I wrote.'_ Izuku thought to himself. He'd have to try and recreate the rest from memory.

Izuku tried not to let Kacchan's words affect him as he walked home. It's not like the boy's lack of support was anything new to Izuku, but he couldn't just make the words go away either. Maybe he really was being too prideful by thinking he had anything to offer to a hero agency. Wouldn't it make more sense for the heroes themselves to have already thought of everything he had? They were the ones who knew their own quirks best after all.

Izuku didn't have time to doubt himself further, because he was suddenly surrounded by a cruel voice and viscous substance. The slimy material was shoved into his mouth and nose, making breathing impossible. That didn't stop his body from trying though, and it's efforts made him suck in more of the disgusting fluid. His vision was dimming fast, and a distant, hysterical part of his brain wondered if his own quirk would be able to bring him back from the dead.

Izuku wasn't sure what happened next, but it felt like a small explosion had gone off. The next thing he knew he was free and gasping for air on the ground. Something turned him on his side, which allowed him to cough up whatever was clogging his lungs. Someone was rubbing back, and murmuring reassuringly to him. It felt like an hour before he was able to really breath again, but it was probably only a minute. The reassuring voice asked if he was okay, and Izuku managed to nod. The voice then told him to rest for a minute, until his breathing was back to normal. Izuku was too exhausted to think of doing anything else.

He tried to piece together what happened while his breathing evened out. The voice he heard earlier could have been a villain, so did that mean he had just been saved by a hero? Izuku heard movement behind him, meaning that the possible hero was still there. He should really thank them for saving him. Izuku turned over to do just that, and nearly had a heart attack.

All Might. All Might was here. He was here and he probably just saved Izuku's life and even stayed around afterward to make sure Izuku was okay because he was amazing like that. All Might was... crouched on the ground, looking through Izuku's damaged hero journal.

Self-consciousness spiked, and Izuku made himself sit up.

"Ah! Young man! Thank goodness you are alright! I had feared the worst when I caught you in the clutches of that viscous villain."

"I-yeah, it was-I couldn't-I thought- Thank you so much All Might!" _'Smooth Deku, real smooth.'_ Izuku thought with a wince.

"It was no trouble my boy! What's important is that you are safe. Do you feel you need any help getting home, or to a doctor?"

"N-no! I feel fine!" Izuku answered without really thinking about it. There had always been so much he wanted to say and ask All Might about if he ever got to meet him. Why wasn't any of it coming now?! "C-could you-can I h-have your-"

"Autograph? Already done!" All Might carefully opened the notebook and showed Izuku the last page. The paper was smudged and battered, but All Might's large signature was very clear.

"OH MY GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Izuku had to stop himself from actually squealing in delight.

"You're quite welcome! Oh, and don't worry about the scoundrel that attacked you. I have him safely contained!" All Might pulled out two large soda bottles filled with a greenish substance; one of them with eyes floating inside. Izuku had no idea how All Might had managed to stuff so much matter into such a small space so quickly, but he wouldn't put anything past the Number 1 Hero.

"That's awesome! You're so amazing All Might! Oh gosh...I always wanted to be a hero just like you when I was younger. I mean, I know I can't, but it's still an honor to meet you!"

All Might had just put the bottled villain in his pants pockets, and looked like he was about to say goodbye and bound away, but hesitated.

"Why can't you be a hero?"

"...because I'm quirkless." Izuku finally replied, guilt writhing in his gut over lying to his idol. All Might's smile stayed in place, but he seemed a bit subdued.

"Ah, I see. That is unfortunate for your dream. However! You should really consider joining the police force. It's just as noble a profession, even if they do get some flack. Plus, I saw some of what you had written in that journal, the police could really benefit from the mind behind those ideas."

Izuku gaped up at his personal hero.

"You...you really think so?" He asked reverently. "I was thinking about working at a hero agency..."

"Also an excellent option! I'll keep an eye out for you in the upcoming years young Midoriya!"

All Might saluted him, and then super jumped out of sight. Izuku continued to stare, even as the resulting wind made a mess of his hair and blew sand in his face.

All Might thought his journal was good. Even damaged, he'd thought it was good! He'd called him by his name too! How did All Might know his name? Oh yeah, it was on the front of his journal.

This was the most amazing day of his life! Izuku carefully gathered up his journal, knowing that he could never throw it out now. It was going to become one of his greatest treasures!

* * *

All Might had stayed longer than he should have. He'd known that his time was running out, but couldn't leave such a young fan on words like 'I can't be a hero'. Especially one that had just been attacked like that; it had been a much closer call than All Might would like to admit.

He couldn't regret taking a moment to try and encourage the boy. He knew the pain of being quirkless, and the prejudice had gotten worse as the number of quirkless people dwindled. Plus it had been a good opportunity to advertise his best friend's work. Tsukauchi often complained about the low number of people who applied to the police academy. And he hadn't been lying about the boy's talent; the bit he'd been able to read out of that 'quirk journal' had been impressive.

He could very much regret the fact that his quirk gave out while he was going in for his landing though. He flailed in the air and hit the rooftop rather painfully, but he made it in one piece. It wasn't until he found the roof exit, and made his way down the stairs, that he realized the bottles containing the villain were no longer in his pockets

* * *

Izuku felt like he was walking on air as he made his way home. His mood had been officially lifted after his meeting with All Might, and he couldn't wait to go home and tell his Mom all about it. Of course, when he noticed a villain fight going on he couldn't resist trying to get a closer look. He saw Kamui Woods and Desutegoro jumping around, and thought this would be a good opportunity to get some additional notes on them. He'd have to write in the margins of a school journal, so he didn't risk the one that All Might signed.

When Izuku finally made it to the front of the crowd he felt like he was going to have a heart attack yet again.

It was the slime villain that All Might had pulled off of him. He didn't know how it could be here, and for once he didn't speculate. He was too distracted over the fact that Kacchan was now the one struggling to breath. Izuku was used to seeing all sorts of expressions on Kacchan; they'd known each other for as long as he could remember. But Izuku had never seen him wear such a look of pure fear and desperation.

Someone had to save Kacchan, and they had to do it NOW. He couldn't last much longer, and Izuku knew that if he saw Kacchan's dead body, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from using his quirk.

He heard the heroes say they were going to wait until someone with a better quirk came along, and felt like he was going to explode. There was no time to wait! Kacchan was dying!

Still, he couldn't deny that what the heroes were trying hadn't been working.

 _'Think Izuku, think!'_ he urged himself _'It's the one thing you're good at, think!'_

Izuku recalled everything he knew about the quirks available: Detsugoro- Strength Enhancement, Backdraft- Hydrokinesis, Kamui Woods- Lumber. He tore his focus away from Kacchan and onto the villain, quickly analyzing what he saw and what he remembered from All Might's intervention. He could see why Kamui Woods was hesitant to approach, with all the fire and explosions. Backdraft was busy with helping other civilians, and Detsugoro's punches wouldn't be very effective against this villain's body type...

 _'The eyes!'_ Izuku realized. Every other part of the villain's body constantly changed shape and density, but the eyes were always the same size wherever they ended up. They were even like that when the villain was trapped in the bottle. They could be a weak point!

Izuku shoved his way through the crowd, yelling at them to get out of his way. Izuku must have sounded pretty desperate himself, because most people actually did try to move.

"Detsugoro! Kamui Woods!" Izuku screamed when he finally made it to the barrier Backdraft had set up. They turned to look at him, and were annoyed when they saw who was speaking.

"Kid, you need to stay b-"

"The eyes are a weak spot!" Izuku interrupted Detsugoro.

"What?"

"The eyes are a weak spot! If you hit the villain there it might release Kacchan!"

"How do you know that?" Kamui Woods asked. He looked more intrigued than annoyed now.

Izuku hesitated. He didn't know for sure that the eyes would be a weak spot for this villain, but it was very likely they were. The heroes might not risk attacking based on a civilian's theory though, and if they didn't believe him then Kacchan...

"I saw a hero fighting this villain earlier, and he got him on the run by hitting his eyes!" Izuku yelled, for once not minding the lie. "Detsogoro, you can punch him in the eyes and Kamui, you can use your branches to pull Kacchan out while the villain is distracted!"

"We both want to help kid, but I'm not equipped to be around that much fire." Kamui argued reluctantly, and Detsugoro nodded.

"And I can't pull the kid out on my own if I'm busy wailing on him." The other hero answered.

"Please!" Izuku cried. "You have to try! You're quick Kamui, you can be in and out before the fire is a danger! And without Kacchan he won't be able to cause any more explosions! You can do it! I know you can! Because if you can't my classmate is going to die!"

Something Izuku said must have resonated with the heroes, because they actually looked like they were considering it.

"It might actually work, and we can't afford to wait much longer for back up." Kamui Woods admitted.

"I'm willing to give it one more shot if you are." Detsugoro replied.

With that the pair were off. Kamui Woods used his Lumber to swing around, avoiding the flames as best he could as he got closer. Detsugoro just made a beeline for the struggling pair. The villain saw Detsugoro, and laughed.

"Ha! You stupid? You can't touch me- AHHHHHH!"

The villain screamed as Detsugoro punched the villain hard in the eyes. The moment he did Kamui Woods found a flame free perch and shot his branches out to Kacchan. The wood plunged into the villain's body and started to wrap around Kacchan. The villain writhed and recoiled under Detsugoro's assault. This freed Kacchan's face and allowed him some precious mouthfuls of air, but it also pulled on Kamui Wood's branches. The hero extended his other arm and wrapped it around the street light he was standing on, anchoring himself. He continued to work his branches around Kacchan, then finally called them all back. With the combo of Kamui Wood's pulling and Detsugoro's assault the villains hold on Kacchan slipped, and he was pulled free.

Izuku breathed a deep sigh of relief, his legs almost failing as he watched Kacchan being carried over to the barrier in Kamui Wood's arms. Detsugoro was still fighting the villain on his own, but that was okay because Izuku could hear sirens. Police were approaching, and most likely a couple of heroes with them. Back up had finally arrived.

Kamui Woods placed Kacchan down within the barrier next to Izuku. Kacchan's eyes had widened when he saw his classmate, but before he could say anything Kamui Woods spoke up.

"Kid, the info was appreciated, and I gotta admit the plan worked well. Just don't make a habit of yelling advice during every villain battle, okay?"

Izuku nodded mutely. Kacchan kept looking back and forth between the two, not sure what to make of the interaction. Kamui Woods called Backdraft over to keep an eye on Kacchan till he could be checked out by paramedics, which the hero could now afford to do since police and additional heroes were helping with the civilians. Knowing that Kacchan was safe was enough for Izuku, so he took the opportunity to sneak away and out of the crowd. He didn't notice the skeletal blonde man watching him appreciatively as he went on his way.

Izuke was exhausted when he got home, but he couldn't sleep yet. All Might had complimented his journal today! And then he was actually able to help a couple of heroes save Kacchan! Izuku had never felt more sure about his decision to enter UA, and immediately went to his room to come up with a study plan for the rest of the year. He was going to do everything in his power to ace that entrance exam!

* * *

 **A.N.**

Sorry it took so long to get this out. I can't guarantee that the next one will be produced faster, but I'll try. Thanks for reading!

Something I've been contemplating lately: What Hogwarts House would Izuku be sorted into? He's got enough bravery to be Gryfindor, enough ambition to be a Slytherin, his analytic mind and thirst for knowledge would fit well into Ravenclaw, and his loyal and uber helpful nature would also make him a great Hufflepuff. I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts on the subject, as well as any ideas on how other BnHA characters would be sorted.


	4. Chapter 4

Izuku had been feeling dazed even before he was shoved into the side of the school building. It was the day after the incident with the slime villain and Izuku had been up late figuring out how best to prepare for the UA entrance exam. After waking up so groggy the next morning he put 'follow a regular sleep schedule' as a top priority.

The whole school had found out that Kacchan had been involved in the slime villain attack, so everyone kept asking him if he was okay. Kacchan obviously didn't like that, because he got more and more irritated every time someone brought it up. So Izuku wasn't exactly surprised when Kacchan cornered him after school and pushed him back against the wall.

"Listen up Deku." Kacchan growled. "I didn't ask for your help with that stupid villain. I was doing fine on my own! You think you can look down on me? Huh?! Is that why you ran up there and went begging to the heroes?!"

"No! No Kacchan I just-I was scared! And...you looked like you needed help." Izuku muttered the last bit. Kacchan slammed his hands onto both sides of Izuku.

"You didn't do anything for me! You're a quirkless loser and you didn't do shit yesterday! You got that? I don't owe you anything!"

Kacchan abruptly turned and left, and Izuku stared after him. That had been surprisingly tame for one of his after school encounters with Kacchan, and he couldn't help but wonder what that meant. He already knew Kacchan didn't owe him anything, as far as he was concerned Kacchan _couldn't_ owe him anything. So he wasn't sure what Kacchan was going on about.

Izuku couldn't dwell on it for long though, he had an entrance exam to pass. During his last year of middle school, Izuku devoted himself to studying. He also started following an exercise program. While putting together his study plan Izuku found several articles describing how regular exercise could help someone become a better student. They claimed that exercising at the start of the day could help class material stick better, and that taking exercise breaks while studying helped one stay alert and focused.

So Izuku started jogging just before school each day, and scheduled ten minute exercise breaks into his study plan. He was amazed by how much it helped both his studying and his day-to-day life. He was able to study for longer, and was sleeping more soundly. He was pretty sure his stamina was improving too because he was also getting better at running away from his bullies.

When the day of the entrance exam finally came, Izuku knew he had done everything he could to prepare himself. That didn't stop him from being incredibly nervous though.

Izuku made it all the way to the front gate before he gave in to the anxiety thrumming through his veins. He gazed up at the imposing building, wondering if this was really a good idea. Here he would walk the same halls that so many amazing heroes had before, and take classes alongside future pro and support heroes. All the teachers here were heroes too, even for the Management and General Education departments. Could he really stand among them? Did he deserve to?

Izuku shook his head. He'd made his decision. He was going to dedicate himself to helping others, and he was going to do it by supporting the pro heroes. It wasn't about whether or not he deserved to be here. This was something he had to do to fulfill his dream, to redeem himself, and UA was the best place to learn how to do it.

Izuku focused on his conviction, making sure it did not waver as he walked toward the doors. In fact, he was so focused on it that he barely reacted when a loose stone caught his foot and sent him pitching forward.

Izuku instinctively threw out his arms at the last second, but they never touched the ground. Instead he found himself hovering a few inches off the ground. He blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what had just happened.

"Sorry about that!" Someone said from his side. Izuku turned his head and saw a girl his age, with short brown hair and rosy cheeks. "I know it's rude to use your quirk on someone without permission, but I didn't want you to fall just before the exam. That would be bad luck, right?"

The girl said all this while she helped Izuku right himself in the air. Once he was vertical again the girl clapped her hands together and his feet finally touched the ground.

"Um, m-maybe? I mean, I probably wouldn't have been hurt too bad, but even a little distraction would be a bad thing today." Izuku was trying really hard not to stammer or start rambling. Other kids always got so annoyed when he did that.

"Definitely! We've got to be at our best today." She said with a bright smile. "I'm Uraraka Ochako. Nice to meet you." She gave him a slight bow, which he returned.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm-"

"DEKU!"

Izuku paled. There was no mistaking that voice, or that nickname. Without a second thought Izuku bolted for the entrance. Kacchan had gone a bit easier on Izuku ever since the slime villain incident, but Izuku wasn't taking chances today. He did not want to take the entrance exam with bruised skin and burnt clothes. Izuku made it all the way to the registration table before he stopped, panting lightly.

"Wow! You move pretty fast!" A breathless voice said behind him. He turned to once again find Uraraka watching him.

"You followed me?"

"I thought you heard the bell ring or something. I didn't want to be late! But it looks like we still have some time left." She said, glancing at a clock on the wall. Her brow furrowed a bit when she looked back at him. "Do you know that yelling guy?"

"Oh, yeah, we went to the same school." Izuku said, wringing his hands.

"Ah...then...were you running in here to save a seat for him or something?" She sounded strangely disappointed. "I mean, you certainly can if you want. It's just that no one from my school is coming here, so I don't have anyone to sit with. So I was kind of hoping that we would-"

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, I was just gonna say that I'll sit with you."

"Really? You're friend won't mind?"

"No, he won't." Calling Kaachan his friend was probably a stretch at this point, but he wasn't about to dump that mess onto her. "He's pretty independent. N-not to say that you aren't independent! The fact that you came here on your own proves that, but it's not unusual to want to sit with someone you know in such an unfamiliar place. I mean, I don't really know you, we barely introduced ourselves, but that's enough for something like this, right? It's...I...I'm sorry." _'Dammit, I told myself I wouldn't ramble!'_ Izuku bowed his head to try and hide his blush, which only increased when he heard her giggle. She was laughing at him already!

"You're sweet." She said, and Izuku's head shot up. He'd expected scorn or condescension, but instead she seemed pleased. She went and put her name on the sign in sheet, and Izuku did the same. She looked down at the name once he finished writing it.

"Midoriya, is that right?" Izuku nodded. She smiled at him and bowed, much deeper and more formal this time. "Thank you for agreeing to keep me company Midoriya. It is most appreciated." Then she straightened up. "Shall we go in?"

Izuku followed Uraraka into the exam hall. He was blushing again, but this time it made him feel light rather than heavy. While they walked she chatted with him about the upcoming exam and what she had done to prepare for it. He told her a little bit about his study plan and how he'd gotten into exercising, and she actually sounded impressed.

They found a place to sit in the middle part of the left section. They went down the row as far as they could, to make it easier for other people to file in. This resulted in Uraraka on Izuku's right and a stranger on Izuku's left. Izuku glanced at the stranger while Uraraka was digging through her bag for a pencil. His neighbor was a boy, and he looked very tired. He was slumping in his seat, he had bags under his eyes, and his purple hair went in all directions. Izuku wondered if the boy had been nervous too, and had a hard time sleeping as a result.

Izuku must have looked a little too long, because the boy's eyes suddenly turned to him. Izuku froze, unsure if he should look away, apologize, or do something else.

"Hey." the boy said, his tone matching his looks. Izuku gave him a small, nervous smile.

"Hi."

That's all the interaction they had time for before they had to cover their ears. A high pitched note loudly sounded throughout the room before being abruptly cut off.

"Sorry about that everyone." A tall man in a tan trench coat stood at the head of the room. He had a dark helmet covering his head, making his eyes seem blank and his teeth fixed in place.

"OH MY GOSH THAT'S PRO HERO ECTOPLASM!" Izuku fawned as quietly as he could. Ectoplasm had halted his introduction to fix the microphone, muttering something about Present Mic as he did so.

"It's pretty impressive that all of UA's teachers are heroes too." Uraraka admitted. Izuku nodded enthusiastically.

"I know! They all have so much real life experience. You see the way Ectoplasm's legs end in a point while he's in costume? That's because their specially made prosthetics; he got them after he lost his legs to a villain."

"Really? I had no idea...pro heroes put a lot on the line don't they?"

"They do, but that's what's so amazing about them. They go through so much, fighting villains and helping with disasters, but they don't let it beat them down. They keep going out there to help people, and help future heroes by teaching here."

Uraraka had previously been looking at Ectoplasm with wide eyes, staring his prothetics. But after Izuku finished speaking her gaze softened and she leaned back to take in the hero's whole frame.

"You're right, that is pretty amazing."

Conversation ceased when Ectoplasm finished with the microphone and proceeded with his introduction. He explained how everyone applying for UA entry would be taking the written exam now, and that after it was done there would be a short break before those applying for the Hero course would transfer over to a different exam hall. There would be a separate exam for those applying for the Support course, and anyone applying for Management or General Education would be free to leave after the written exam was finished.

Ectoplasm turned around to write on the chalkboard behind him, listing off the room numbers for the Hero and Support exams.

"You wanna sit together during the intro to the Hero exam too?" Uraraka asked in a whisper. Izuku's skin suddenly felt a little too tight.

"W-well, you see, I'm not-" Izuku cut himself off as he, and everyone else, jumped at the sight of multiple Ectoplasms appearing at the front of the room.

"Clones! That's what his quirk is! I've never seen him use it in person before!" Izuku gushed. Uraraka moved a hand to her mouth to hide her smile. The purple haired boy finally sat up straight.

"My clones will now hand out your exams. You have exactly one hour to complete it, and you must do so on your own. My clones will be patrolling down the aisles and between rows to make sure no one is cheating."

The clones glided up and down the aisles. They handed a pile of papers to the person at the end of each row, and that person would pass them in toward the center. Izuku was handed his exam by the purple haired boy.

"Good luck." Izuku said as he took the two tests. The boy looked startled, but it passed quickly.

"Thanks. You too." He said in that same tired tone. Izuku nodded, then turned and gave Uraraka her test.

"Let's do our best Midoriya!"

"Yeah!"

For the next hour the only sounds were scratching pencils and shifting paper. Every now and then a clone would pass behind them. The footsteps were so light you could only hear them when they were right behind you, but Izuku also noticed that the clones gave off a low pitched hum. You could usually hear that before the footsteps.

Izuku had thought that the whole hour would be harrowing, with him constantly wondering if he was giving the right answers. But after he got started the nerves that had plagued him since he'd woken up began to fade. The multiple choice answers were first, and those came to him the easiest. He began to feel uneasy when he got into the short answer and essay questions though, since he became self conscious of his wording and hand writing. He did his best to shake it off, and remind himself that he'd had more practice writing than anyone he knew.

Eventually, Izuku's anxiety faded and he found himself lost in the familiar ground of analysis. He was just finishing his last sentence when Ectoplasm called out that time was up. Izuku let out a long breath and put his pencil down. Now the only thing to do was wait.

Chatter picked back up as the Ectoplasm clones gathered up the tests. The purple haired boy got up as soon as he handed his test over, and headed for the exit. Izuku wasn't in any hurry, and took his time putting his things away.

"How do you think you did?" Uraraka asked him, twirling her hair anxiously.

"It's hard to say right now...but I think I did okay? I mean, I feel pretty good about the multiple choice, but I didn't have enough time to go back over my essays like I wanted to."

"At least you finished the whole thing. One of the short answers was tripping me up, so I skipped it. But I never got a chance to answer it before time was up!" Uraraka fretted, her face scrunching up.

"O-oh, I'm sorry. But y-you know if you did well on the rest you should still have a good score."

"I know, but UA is infamous for being strict! I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me..."

"Well, you said you were applying for the Hero course right? That means the written exam won't be the only thing they're looking at." Izuku tried to sound comforting, and just like that Uraraka's bright smile was back.

"You're right, this just means I'll have to do my very best during the practical exam!" Uraraka suddenly jumped out of her chair. "Come on, let's get over to the Hero course lecture hall!"

"Uraraka, wait! Hold on a sec!" He said, running after her. "I can't sit with you during the Hero course exam!"

She paused just after getting out the door, and turned to look back at him.

"Why not?"

Izuku took a deep breath. "Because I'm not applying for the hero course."

"Oh," Uraraka looked startled for a moment, but then ducked her head in embarrassment. "of course. There are three other departments here after all. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. What course are you here for then?"

"It's fine." Izuku replied. At this point he was just glad she wasn't asking why he wasn't trying for the hero route. "I applied for both the Management and General Education courses."

"That means you get to head home now, right? Lucky! I get to be nervous for at least another hour!" She said with a mock pout. Izuku chuckled.

"I may not be there, but I'll be cheering for you." He held out his hand for her to shake, and she did. "Good luck Uraraka."

"Thanks Midoriya, I hope we'll see each other at the start of the school year!"

With that she was gone. Izuku stared after her, wondering if he had just made a friend.

* * *

 **A.N.**

I'm finally back! I know this chapter is a bit shorter than some of the previous ones, but this just seemed like a good stopping point. I've got an outline of the next couple of chapters figured out, so I'll start working on those as soon as I can.

I really enjoyed getting to write Uraraka Ochako for the first time. She's such an upbeat character, and I really like the relationship between her and Izuku in canon. So I wanted to make sure they made a connection with each other here. He can't exactly save her from a giant robot in this AU after all.

Yay! First appearance of Shinsou! We'll be seeing more of him in the next chapter, don't worry.


	5. Chapter 5

Katsuki had always considered himself better than Deku, even when they were still friends. Deku, along with the other neighborhood boys, looked up to Katsuki. They followed his lead on everything, so of course he was better than them, even they admitted it!

Deku was the only one who ever challenged Katsuki's position though. He'd fall in a river, and Deku would rush to help him up. He got hurt during a game, and Deku would offer to find a teacher or a parent. It was like Deku thought he couldn't take care of himself; it was downright insulting.

Then Katsuki's quirk manifested, and elevated him even more. He immediately knew that Explosion was the quirk of a hero, and everyone who saw it agreed. No one else in class was on the same level as him now. Hell, not even the older students could keep up with him. Deku had the potential to get a fire based quirk, which would certainly elevate him, but even if that happened Katsuki would still be number one. That's just the way things were.

Then Deku's father died it a fatal accident, the very same night that his own dad died of an inexplicable heart attack.

His dad and him had been playing some dinosaur board game, and when it was his dad's turn he'd suddenly just...slumped over. He'd fallen like a puppet with it's strings cut. Katsuki always heard people were supposed to go through phases when someone close to them died. Denial was supposed to be first, but Katsuki was pretty sure he'd skipped that one and gone straight to anger.

Why did it happen? There had never been anything wrong with his dad before, so how could he go and just die like that? Weren't heart attacks only supposed to happen to unhealthy people? His dad having one didn't make any sense! It didn't make sense and it wasn't fair! And Katsuki screamed those facts to the world for days. His mother got the brunt of it, since he didn't want to go out and deal with people before the funeral. He might have felt bad if she hadn't yelled right back at him. He was pretty sure she skipped denial too.

Katsuki's whole world was shaken when his dad died. He'd always thought his father would be there, and then he wasn't. When he heard Deku's father had died the same night, his world was shaken again. He'd always considered himself above Deku, and then suddenly he wasn't. The two of them had been brought down to the same level by their grief, and Katsuki honestly didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't even want to acknowledge it.

So for a while he acted as though Deku didn't exist. If he talked to Deku, then he might have to face how similar they had become that night, and how much they were both hurting.

Then Deku was declared quirkless, and a piece of Katsuki's world slid back into place. It didn't matter that they were tied together by grief, because Katsuki was back on top. No one could say that he and Deku were on the same level when he had his amazing quirk and Deku had none. It wasn't exactly like it was before, his dad was still dead after all, but this news made things closer to normal. So Katsuki decided it was finally time to face Deku and let him know exactly how things were.

Except things weren't normal, because Deku didn't respond like Deku. He didn't fight against the accusation that he would never be a hero, and he didn't get upset either. He just...accepted it. He accepted that, but he didn't accept that Katsuki was above him again, because he kept giving Katsuki these looks of sadness and resignation and even _pity_. Goddamn freakin' _pity_. Every time Katsuki saw that expression it made him want to smack it off that quirkless loser's face. He was Bakugo Katsuki, he was going to be the number one hero and he didn't need anyone's pity, much less Deku's.

He yelled at Deku more than once to wipe that look off his face, and the loser only ever looked confused. That enraged Katsuki even more because it's like Deku thought he wouldn't notice. Like Deku thought he was too stupid to see what was going through Deku's head when the loser looked at him. When Katsuki's usual tactics didn't work he started bullying others, because Deku was always much quicker to jump to someone else's defense rather than his own. That worked for a bit, because when Deku was standing in Katsuki's way there was never a look of pity on the loser's face. He had to stop though, because the other kids' parents started whining to the school. Stupid cry babies. That's why he was going to be the only one in his class going to UA.

At least that's what he thought until he heard that Deku was still planning to apply for UA. That little quirkless shit...he still thought he could stand on the same level as Katsuki. No, it was even worse. Deku was looking down on him, because that loser thought Bakugo wasn't good enough to be the only representative of their school. He was even looking down on other heroes by thinking he could get a job ordering them around. The nerve of Deku made Bakugo's blood boil.

Then stupid Deku had to be the one to come by and see him getting attacked by the sludge villain. Bakugo would never admit it, but Deku actually had done some good there, because the so-called heroes were just standing around being useless before Deku showed up. After the villain was defeated the useless heroes kept praising Katsuki for his quirk, completely ignoring the fact that it hadn't been able to get him free. It was like they were praising him for being a victim, for not being able to do anything, and that was just as bad as Deku's pity face.

Deku hadn't stuck around to hear any of that, which was a minor relief. He'd already been forced to accept Deku's help, he didn't want the quirkless shit to hear the hero's empty praise on top of it all. Still, despite what he'd yelled at Deku the following day, Katsuki still felt like he owed Deku...something. He wasn't sure what, so he settled on easing up on the loser.

That all went out the window when Katsuki was forced to stand next to Deku as the principle congratulated them both on getting into UA. Bakugo seethed during the entire talk, while Deku looked about ready to shit himself. That meant Deku knew what was coming. Good.

"The hell do you think you're doing Deku?! I warned you not to apply! I'm the only one from this school fit to go to UA! Are you honestly stupid enough to outright challenge me like this?!"

As soon as the pair had left the principle's office Katsuki had shoved Deku into an empty classroom. He punched Deku in the stomach, making the boy double over, before he grabbed the front of Deku's shirt and yanked him upright. Katsuki yelled in his face, demanding a reaction from him. Deku wouldn't meet his eyes for a moment, and Katsuki growled. He wasn't letting Deku get away with the silent treatment, he'd pulled that far too many times since their father's had died. But then Deku's muscles stiffened, and he raised his head to look Katsuki right in the eyes.

"I don't know why you always think I'm challenging you, but that's not what this is. I'm entering UA for my own reasons, because I feel like I need to. That's all. We're in different departments anyway, so we won't even see each other."

Deku's voice is surprisingly steady, there's only a little of the high-pitched, nervous tone that Katsuki is used to hearing from him. Katsuki hated it when Deku did things that surprised him. So he spun Deku around and slammed him into the wall, keeping one of Deku's arms twisted behind his back. Deku cried out in pain, but Katsuki didn't care.

"Don't give me that crap! If you think you'll ever be able to stand on the same level as me then you're a fucking idiot! You're so far below me you might as well be dirt on my shoes! You wanna go to UA so bad? Fine! I'll enjoy watching that school chew you up and spit you out."

Katsuki twisted Deku's arm further, and the loser let out a shrill shriek.

"Until that happens, stay out of my way!"

Katsuki finally let go, and Deku groaned and slumped against the wall. Not wanting to deal with Deku for another minute, Katsuki turned and left.

On the way home, Katsuki reasoned that he could tolerate Deku being at UA for a bit. Soon Deku would run off to some other school, and he wouldn't be around to challenge Katsuki. So all he had to do was establish his place at the top of his new class, which would be easy with a quirk like his. Everything would work out as it should.

* * *

What Izuku told Kacchan after they met with the principle was basically true. He had never intended to challenge his old friend, and his reasons for attending UA were his own. He wanted to both salvage some part of his dream and to do work that would help make up for his crime, but he couldn't deny that Kacchan was intrinsically linked to at least half of his motivation for attending.

He wished he could make Kacchan understand that he admired the boy too much, and felt far too guilty, to ever look down on him or try to hurt him. No matter how much he told Kacchan how great or amazing he was Kacchan always seemed to dismiss it or take it the wrong way. Maybe Izuku's decision would feel less like a challenge if Kacchan knew what Izuku was trying to make up for, but Izuku wasn't sure he would survive the fallout of that revelation.

So all he could do was be as truthful as he could and hope that somehow, despite all the lies and missing information, Kacchan would eventually understand.

* * *

Despite his mother getting him out the door on time, Izuku was running late. He'd lingered at the park instead of heading for UA right away, because he figured running into his old friend on the way to school wouldn't count as 'staying out of his way'. He hadn't seen Kacchan at all on the way to school, so so that had worked out, but now he was jogging through the halls of UA trying to find his new classroom before the bell rang. He never realized how huge this place was before!

"Deku!"

Izuku instinctively flinched at the name, but quickly realized that it had been said in the wrong tone and voice. He turned around and saw Uraraka jogging down the hall towards him. She was waving and smiling at him, and he couldn't help smiling in return.

"You got in! That's great Midoriya! Which department are you in?" She asked once she had stopped close enough to him.

"Management, but my acceptance video explained that the Management course shares some classes with the General Education department. So I guess it'll be a little bit of both. What about you? How did you do on the Hero Exam?"

"Let me tell you, it got intense." She said with a laugh. "But I made it! I'm in class 1-A!"

"That's awesome!" Izuku gushed. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" she was so excited it was almost a squeal. "Good thing I caught you from falling huh? The bad luck from missing could have ruined both our chances." She said, playfully punching him on the shoulder. Izuku chuckled nervously.

"It'll probably be bad luck to be late on the first day of class too."

"Yeah, probably." Uraraka said with a slight grimace. "Have you seen 1-A? I'm having trouble finding it."

"I think I remember seeing it earlier." Izuku said, mentally retracing his steps. "I don't suppose you saw 1-J on your way here?"

"Oh yeah! I saw that one just a minute ago."

The two gave each other directions and went their separate ways. Izuku managed to get in the door just before the bell rang, and sat in the nearest available seat.

"Alright everyone, class has started!"

Izuku looked up when he heard the sultry, and rather familiar, voice. There was a woman with layers of long black hair standing at the front of the class. She wore a tight white dress that ended just above her knees, a short sleeved black cardigan, and a dazzling smile. He could only assume she was their home room teacher, though he'd never had a teacher that dressed quite like that. He was a little more concerned with figuring out why she looked familiar though, rather than studying her outfit. The same could not be said for some of his other classmates.

"My name is Nemuri Kayama, and I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. Some of you may know me better by my hero name, Midnight."

That was it! Izuku knew she had to be a hero if she worked here, and everything clicked once she gave her name. He was familiar with her of course, she was quite well known for her hero work, and her revealing outfit. Plenty of his classmates had taken to looking up pictures of her during their last year of middle school.

Not that Izuku was among them! At least, not for the same reasons. Her 18+ hero costume was eye catching he would admit, but he'd always been more interested in the great amount of control she had over her quirk, a sleep inducing gas that she could emit from her skin. It couldn't be easy to direct a quirk like that.

"Let's make sure everyone is here, shall we? Then we can get to know each other a little better before getting into orientation. Please call out when I say your name."

Izuku noticed how eagerly some of the students responded when their name was called. Well, at least that meant they wouldn't have any trouble paying attention to the teacher during class.

* * *

Izuku couldn't help feeling relieved. Miss Midnight had insisted that everyone tell the class a bit about themselves as a part of orientation, and Izuku had managed to avoid telling the whole class he was quirkless. He knew he'd have to explain it at some point, but it would be nice if the label didn't taint everyone's first impression of him. There might be hope for him to make a few friends if they got to know him before finding out.

He'd managed to avoid the topic during his next two classes as well, Statistics and Economics, and now he was on to his fourth class, Literature. All he had to do was make it through this one, and then it would be time for lunch. He hoped class 1-A had lunch the same time as 1-J.

Izuku entered the Literature classroom and came across something he hadn't seen since his first class, a familiar face. At the back of the classroom sat the boy who had been next to Izuku during the entrance exam, the one with the fluffy purple hair. Izuku had only exchanged a few words with the boy, but he was honestly glad to see he'd gotten in.

"Hey, nice to see you again." Izuku smiled as he sat down next to the boy.

The boy turned his head just enough to look at Izuku. The boy looked just as tired as he did the day of the entrance exam, which made Izuku wonder if he had sleep problems. The way the boy was slouching down in his chair certainly didn't do anything to contradict the theory.

"Again?" The boy asked.

"I sat next to you during the written exam. Congrats on making it in, that test was pretty hard."

"Oh...thanks."

The boy's tone made the response more neutral than positive, but that didn't bother Izuku too much. He'd had much worse receptions over the years.

"I'm Midoriya Izuku, Management Department, class 1-J." Izuku bowed as best as he could while sitting at the desk. The boy eyed him for a moment before nodding.

"Shinsou Hitoshi, General Education Department, class 1-C."

"Nice to meet you Shinsou. Do you have any idea who teaches this class? My schedule doesn't say."

"Some of the other kids were mentioning Cementoss. It's probably him." For the first time since Izuku had met him, Shinsou didn't sound quite so dead tired. Of course that little bit of energy didn't hold a candle to Izuku's reaction.

"Cementoss? Awesome! He always seems to downplay his abilities in interviews and stuff, but his quirk is amazingly versatile in the city. His agency probably appreciates how well he can help with cleaning up collateral damage. You suppose that's part of the reason he's teaching at UA? He's gotta be a great help at setting up training areas, though I'm sure he's just as good at teaching in the classroom. He wouldn't be assigned to teach literature if he wasn't, right?"

On some level, Izuku was aware that he was rambling, but it didn't really hit him until he saw that Shinsou was starting to look overwhelmed.

"Oh! Um...sorry Shinsou. I got a little carried away, huh? I'll shut up now."

Shinsou frowned, and looked like he's about to say something, but didn't get a chance before a sharp CRACK startled them both into sitting up straight.

There was a girl sitting in front of Shinsou, and she was leaning across the aisle to look at what the boy in front of Izuku was holding. The girl's shoulder length maroon hair was obscuring her face a bit, but Izuku could see she was carefully looking over a mechanical pencil that the boy was holding.

"Sorry guys, didn't mean to startle you." The boy said. He handed the girl the pencil, which Izuku could now see was broken in half, and ran a hand through his two-toned blue hair. "Wakiya insisted that I show off my quirk to her. Apparently she didn't believe I could have a quirk like Fissure Creation and be in the General Education course." He gave the girl, Wakiya, a sidelong glance.

"Well, color me surprised Imari, you really did break this thing clean in two." Wakiya said, handing it back to the boy. "So how did someone with a power like that fail the Hero practical exam? You could have made those robots scrap heaps if you got close enough."

"I didn't fail the Hero exam, I never attempted it. Not everyone has a burning desire to be a hero you know, I plan on going to college after graduating."

"Ah, that's boring! Just imagine what you could do at the sports festival with a quirk like that! But you won't even try because you don't wanna get into the hero course? Lame!" she said, pushing herself back into her seat.

"Well I never said I'd do that..." Imari muttered, but apparently Wakiya had already lost interest in him, because now she was rounding on Izuku and Shinsou.

"So what quirks do you two have?"

Crap.

Izuku steeled himself, and hoped his smile looked genuine.

"I guess I'm pretty boring too." _'Here it goes.'_ "I'm quirkless."

When it came to observation skills, Izuku had more practice with singular, intense focus. Now he tried to avoid that and take in the reactions of all three listeners at once. Imari looked startled, then curious, leaning towards Izuku with his head tilted just a bit. Wakiya immediately frowned, but he couldn't pin a specific emotion to it. Shinsou's eyebrows lowered, but he looked more thoughtful than angry.

"Seriously dude?" Wakiya was the first to speak. "Ah man, that's gotta suck. Definitely no Hero course for you huh?"

There was a part of Izuku that wanted to rebel at what the girl was implying. Izuku had always thought that his actions were what had made him unsuited to be a hero, not his supposed quirklessness. But he'd been shoving down that part of him for quite some time now, and was able to stop it from rising to the surface. He smiled again, a simple curve of his lips, but it took so much more effort now.

"Yeah...I've known for a while that wasn't really an option. So I decided to go into the Management course instead. Hero isn't the only occupation where you help people, you know?"

"My thoughts exactly." Imari chimed in. "Did they say anything about your quirklessness when you got in? I was just thinking you might actually be UA's first quirkless student, which would be pretty cool."

"You know, I never actually thought about that." Izuku said, surprised that the possibility hadn't occurred to him sooner.

"That would be an interesting claim to fame." Wakiya admitted. "Maybe you could ask one of the teachers about it, or get permission to look in the school archives."

"Maybe I'll do that. So what about you? What's your quirk?" He asked Wakiya, hoping to change the subject.

"Mine's pretty handy, just not for hero stuff, unfortunately." Wakiya then reached under her seat and pulled out a notebook. Izuku's eyes bugged out when he noticed that there was no bag sitting under her chair or desk.

"It's great for classes though! I call it Hammerspace. I have access to a sort of pocket dimension, and I use it for storage space. As far as I can tell, it's endless. When I go on vacation I can pack everything in my room and take it with me if I want to."

"That so cool!" Izuku leaned forward excitedly. "You could use a power like that for just about anything! You could even use it for hero work, if you had the right set up."

Wakiya looked skeptical, but Izuku continued.

"You could carry around any number of support items, and that could make you prepared for just about any situation. You'd probably have to ask the Support Department, but if you started investigating it now maybe you could get permission to use some support items during the sports festival."

Wakiya looked stunned, but then she started furiously scribbling down notes in her notebook. Izuku briefly wondered if that's what he looked like when he was writing in his quirk journals before turning to Imari.

"You said your quirk was Fissure Creation right? How does that work?"

Imari explained that he had the ability to create fissures, aka cracks, in whatever non organic material he touched. If it was thin enough it would break apart, like the mechanical pencil, but something bigger would just gain a crack, and a lot of damage. Apparently this had caused his early school teachers quite a lot of grief, and he was eventually banned from handling any school equipment without cotton gloves.

"I have better control now, so it's not really a problem anymore, but I still carry a pair of gloves with me to be on the safe side."

Izuku nodded along, soaking in the new information. He'd left his current quirk journal at home, because he'd been worried that he'd get too distracted trying to make new entries for each new quirk he came across. Now he realized that an inability to write everything down was making it worse, because he was afraid he'd forget something important by the time he got home. Maybe he could take some pages out of the back of a different notebook and use that as a substitute...

"My quirk manifesting made me strangely obsessed with the ground...so I've been thinking of going to college for geology, though being a seismologist sounds interesting too-"

"Ho hum, back to the boring stuff." Wakiya suddenly interrupted. Izuku hadn't even noticed that she'd finished writing. Imari shot her a glare, but she was already looking at Shinsou.

"What's your quirk then? It's not rock related too is it?"

Shinsou sighed. "Definitely not. My quirk is Brainwashing. When I talk to someone, and they reply to me, and can order them to do things."

"And they'll just go do it? Without question?" Wakiya asked in awe.

"Yep."

"Oh man, a quirk like that would let you get away with so much! You the mischievous type? Because if you are, your elementary and middle school days must have been a riot!" Wakiya said with a laugh.

"I can definitely think of some times when I would have liked to have a quirk like that, mainly with my siblings." Imari muttered.

"That sounds like an amazing quirk Shinsou! Would you use it on me sometime?" Izuku asked eagerly. His mind was buzzing with ideas; all the possibilities a quirk like that provided and all the ways it could be tested. He was so distracted by it, that it took him a moment to realize Shinsou was staring at him.

 _'When did he get all hunched over like that? He was sitting up pretty straight before. And why is he staring at me like that? Did I say something weird?'_ He must have, because Wakiya and Imari were staring at him too.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'?! You just asked him to brainwash you!"

"You have to admit, it's kind of a weird request."

Wakiya and Imari answered in sequence. Izuku thought about that for a moment, and then turned to Shinsou.

"Sorry if I sounded pushy. There are just so many interesting things to try with a quirk like that! You don't have to use it on me if you don't want to though."

"What kind of things were you thinking of?" Shinsou asked slowly.

"Hmmmm..." Izuku tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I guess the first thing that comes to mind is a handstand. I could never figure out how to do one when I was growing up, and it would be cool to finally learn. You said that your quirk makes people do what you tell them, so it made me wonder: If you used your quirk on me, and told me to do a handstand, would I suddenly be able to do a handstand? Or would I just fall over like normal? And if I did do a handstand while brainwashed, would my muscles remember it well enough to do it again when I wasn't being brainwashed? That's the kind of things I was thinking of. Have you ever tried anything like that Shinsou?"

"Can't say that I have; gymnastics can be dangerous." Shinsou nervously rubbed at the back of his neck. "Wouldn't want to accidentally get someone hurt, you know?"

"That's understandable. If we do try that out we'll have to set out pillows or something. I mean, assuming you're okay with trying something like that." Izuku reiterated, suddenly nervous at being rejected.

Shinsou seemed to mull the idea over for a minute before replying.

"I've got to admit, now that you've brought it up I'm curious myself."

"Great! You want to meet up after class some time and try it out?"

"Sure."

The pair quickly exchanged phone numbers. As Izuku was entering the new number, Imari nudged his desk. Izuku looked up, and wondered why Imari looked so concerned.

"If you guys do get together, be careful, okay?" Imari said quietly.

"Of course." Izuku said. "I'll be sure to pick a place where the ground is soft."

The look on Imari's face gave Izuku the impression that hadn't been what the boy had meant, but just then the door opened and conversation ceased.

"Sorry for being a bit late everyone. Setting up one of the training areas took longer than anticipated." Cementoss explained as he shuffled through the door. Cementoss got the lesson going straight away, probably to make up for lost time.

Izuku did his best to pay attention in class, but ended up making a bunch of quirk related notes in the margins of his notebook regardless. Also, he couldn't help but notice that Shinsou kept glancing at him throughout the class period.

* * *

 **A.N.**

The names and powers of the OC's in this chapter were found via random name generator and random superpower generator. I've created several potential original characters this way, so they'll crop up in the story every now and then, but the focus will remain on Izuku and those close to him.

Do you guys know how many 'Izuku has a quirk' based AU's I have running around my brain? It seems like the number keeps climbing.

I have one where Izuku is an animal with a quirk, like Nedzu, that gets rescued from a lab and ends up getting adopted by Nedzu and essentially raised by the UA staff.

I have one that's sort of a crossover with Tokyo Ghoul. But instead of ghouls being a whole different species it's just one person who has a quirk that gives them those same powers, and hungers. Then, just like with Kaneki, Izuku ends up getting an organ transplant from the ghoul quirk person and it results in Izuku getting that same quirk (no conspiracy this time, it just happens). So now Izuku has to figure out how to become a hero while also craving human flesh.

I have one that's inspired by the game 'Beyond Two Souls', where Izuku has a quirk that allows him to communicate with a powerful being that is linked to his soul. Essentially he has a spiritually conjoined twin that no one else can see or hear and the two have to work together to enter the hero business.

Just recently I started thinking of one where Izuku's dad was actually a siren so at a certain age Izuku gains the power of 'compelling voice'. So compelling, in fact, that he can barely talk without automatically influencing the people who hear him.

I want to write them all so much but I just don't have the time! If any of you want to write something based off these AU ideas, then please feel free. I'd love to see something for them.


	6. Chapter 6

After literature ended, Imari and Wakiya vanished into the crowd. That left Izuku walking beside Shinsou as they exited the room.

"So, uh, 1-J has lunch next. Does 1-C have lunch now too?" Izuku asked hesitantly.

"Yup."

"Do you want to head there together then?"

"I thought we already were." Shinsou replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"W-well, I guess we are. But I wasn't sure if we were, um, officially walking together or if we just ended up beside each other as we left the room and I didn't want to assume...anyway, uh, what classes do you have after lunch?" _'There we go, classes, that's a good small talk topic right?'_

"Let's see." Shinsou dug into his pocket and pulled out a half sheet of paper. "Looks like I've got English and then History."

"Seriously? I think those are my two remaining classes too." Izuku awkwardly bent his arm back to get his schedule from the side pocket of his backpack. "Yep, English then History. I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the afternoons." Izuku said, looking up at Shinsou with a small smile. The other boy hummed and nodded. They chatted a bit more about what classes they had earlier in the day. After another couple minutes of walking they reached the lunch room, which was already filled with students.

"Is that the Cooking Hero Lunch Rush? Awesome! Even the kitchen staff are heroes! UA really goes all out!"

"Or maybe they figured it would be easier to hire him than pay an army of civilian cooks to do the same thing. Probably a lot easier on the budget just to pay one person." Shinsou said with a wry smile. Izuku chuckled.

"That's a good point. There's plenty of people out there who have quirks that can be applied to cooking, but I doubt any of them are as efficient as Lunch Rush. I hope they have some back up chefs to call on though; I'd hate for Lunch Rush to be stuck here if some big disaster happened and victims needed to be fed."

"Lunch Rush mainly works in disaster relief right? If anything he's the best one to work in a place like this during the day, they only need him after everything is over. It's the other teachers that run the real risk of heroics and teaching interfering with each other, they need to be available for disasters right when they happen."

"Well...now I feel like I'm keeping all my teachers from patrolling." Izuku said, his shoulder's sagging. Shinsou shrugged.

"Why feel bad about it? It's their choice to teach here; we just benefit from it. Besides, it's not like our teachers are the only heroes in the city."

"I suppose...yeah, that makes sense." Izuku said, nodding slowly. "The other heroes at their agencies must be enough to cover the morning shift."

While they talked, Izuku and Shinsou had gotten in line and chosen their food. Full trays in hand, the two of them stood and looked around for a place to sit. Before either could voice an opinion, someone called out to them from across the room.

"Deku! Over here!" Well, called out to one of them anyway. Uraraka waved at Izuku from several tables away, clearly beckoning him over. At least he controlled his flinch better this time.

"She talking to you? I thought your name was Izuku?" Shinsou asked, looking at Uraraka skeptically as she continued to wave.

"It is, that's just...we met on the day of the entrance exam and there was a bit of a misunderstanding. I've been meaning to talk to her about it since then. I should probably go sit with her and do that. Well, I'd probably sit with her anyway since I don't really know anyone else here yet. Um, do you want to join me?" Izuku said the last bit in a rush. Shinsou cast one more look around the lunch room before turning back to Izuku.

"I'm kind of in the same boat so, sure."

Izuku honestly hadn't been expecting Shinsou to agree. He figured the boy would see some other General Studies students and want to sit with them, or maybe even know someone here from his previous school. The acceptance was unexpected, but far from displeasing.

So Izuku lead Shinsou over to Uraraka. At first Izuku thought she was there alone;the table she was at was long and divided in two and the students on the other side seemed to be having a lively conversation of their own. But as they got closer Izuku saw a tall boy with short, midnight blue hair turn around and look at them, seeming to anticipate their arrival along with Uraraka.

"Hi Midoriya! It's great to see you! I didn't think we'd have lunch along with the other departments, but I'm not complaining." Uraraka greeted him brightly. Izuku smiled back at her.

"Me either. They must base it off of year rather than department."

"So, is your friend from Management too?" She asked gesturing to Shinsou.

"Oh, right, introductions, um, this is Shinsou Hitoshi. He's from the General Department, actually, but our last class was together so I invited him to have lunch with me, well, us, if that's okay?" Izuku was suddenly afraid that inviting Shinsou over without asking might be seen as overstepping, but Uraraka's smile quickly put that fear to rest.

"No problem! The more the merrier." Uraraka and the blue haired boy scooted over a little so the new arrivals could sit down. Izuku sat beside Uraraka, and Shinsou sat across from Izuku, next to the blue haired boy.

The unnamed boy gave him and Shinsou an appraising look. It made Izuku uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't quite identify, and he noticed Shinsou sit up straighter so he could meet the boy's gaze without having to look up. Despite the awkward feeling that was welling up in Izuku, he figured he should introduce himself to Uraraka's companion.

"H-hey, I'm Midoriya Izuku from class 1-J. Are you a classmate of Uraraka's?"

"Ah, forgive me for not introducing myself right away. I am Iida Tenya from class 1-A. I am indeed a classmate of Uraraka's."

The introduction came off as overly formal, so Izuku wasn't sure how to respond to it. A glance to his right showed that Uraraka wore an amused smile, so he tried to take it in stride.

"It's almost a pity you're not from the Support Department, Iida, then we'd have the most diverse group in the lunch room." She teased.

"You both got into the Hero course?" Shinsou asked. Izuku was surprised to hear a bit of edge in his voice. Uraraka nodded.

"Deku might have too. We met just before the entrance exam and sat next to each other during the written portion. After it was over I was so pumped for the practical that I almost dragged Deku along with me!"

"I really don't think I would have done well during the practical portion..."

"Why not? Plenty of kids were there, with a variety of quirks. Even if you didn't make enough points for the hero course I'm sure you could have found a way to make an impression."

 _'The only impression I would make would be as the only "quirkless" person to try it.'_ Izuku thought to himself.

"I agree with Uraraka. As students of UA, we must not sell ourselves short. We have been chosen to represent the high standard and morals of this school, so we should always put our best foot forward and go beyond what we think we can do, no matter which department we chose." Iida declared, robotically moving his arm up and down as he did so.

"Nice speech." Shinsou scoffed. He turned to Izuku, who was a tad stunned by the Iida's sudden burst of passion. "No offense Midoriya, but you're right. The entrance exam here is biased toward certain types of quirks, so I don't think you would have done well either." His gaze shifted back to Iida. "Not everyone here is in their first choice of departments after all."

"Oh, I didn't realize you'd tried out for the hero course Shinsou." Izuku said. The other boy nodded, pointedly ignoring how taken aback Iida looked. "What was it like? I only applied for Management, so I didn't get to see. What did they make you do?"

"We had to fight giant robots." Shinsou said, completely deadpan.

"Whaaaaat? Seriously?! Dang...I really wouldn't have stood a chance then."

"You really think so Deku? Is your quirk not good for offense or defense or anything?" Uraraka asked curiously.

Izuku now remembered that he'd never mentioned his 'quirkless' status to Uraraka. Which wasn't surprising since he avoided telling people about it as much as he could.

"Well, I'm, uh-"

"Hey, Midoriya? Weren't you saying you were going to mention something about your name?" Shinsou interrupted suddenly. Izuku couldn't help feeling relieved by the change in subject.

"Oh, right. Uraraka, I've been meaning to tell you that-"

"DEKUUUU!"

Izuku's flinch this time was so visceral he had no hope of stopping it. He began berating himself instantly. He should have put the dots together, should have thought about what Uraraka's presence here would mean, he should have realized who else would be here before a pair of familiar hands slammed down on the table in front of him.

"The hell do you think you're doing shitty Deku? Huh?! I tell you to stay out of my way and now here you are getting buddy buddy with kids from the hero course! What? You think they'll take pity on you and drag your useless ass along when the going gets tough?"

Izuku curled in on himself more and more with every word Kacchan said, until he'd almost curled up into a ball right in his seat. He can't make himself look Kacchan in the eye, but he does manage to shake his head.

"I j-just, I w-wasn't th-thinking that-"

"Oh, the quirkless loser knows how to think now? Whatever happened to 'we're from different departments so we won't even see each other'? You thought back on that recently? Hey, you in there fucking Deku?"

Izuku tried to think past the fog that always clouded his mind whenever Kacchan really laid into him; tried to come up with an answer that would make this encounter end. Someone beats him to the punch.

"Bakugo Katsuki, I demand that you desist this line of questioning and return to your seat immediately. Whatever grievance you have with Midoriya does not justify causing a scene in the middle of the cafeteria!"

"Yeah, shut up Bakugo! You're the one that came storming over here, so if you don't want to see my friend you can just storm right back!"

Izuku uncurled just enough so that he could fully gape at Uraraka and Iida. No one Izuku's own age had ever talked to Kacchan like that before. Hell, he was pretty sure the only adult to ever do so was Kacchan's own mother.

"Keep out of this Round Face Bitch!"

"You're the one that brought me into it!"

"Hey, Asshat." Shinsou's voice cut through the argument. Bakugo turned to him with a snarl.

"What did you..." Bakugo's face suddenly went slack, and the anger leeched out of his eyes. He stared blankly at Shinsou, who smirked back at him.

"Go back to your seat and eat your lunch. Don't bother us for the rest of the period." Shinsou commanded. Bakugo mechanically straightened and then walked back the way he came. Izuku watched as Kacchan sat down at a table across the room, where a boy with spiky red hair unsuccessfully tried to talk to Kacchan as he ate.

"Was that your quirk?" Izuku asked, finally turning back to Shinsou. The boy nodded stiffly, and shoved some food into his mouth.

"That was amazing Shinsou! I've never seen anything get Kacchan to quiet down that quickly!" Izuku declared, beaming brightly. Shinsou had...some kind of reaction to that. It might have been a laugh, or he might have tried to talk too quickly, or it could have been something else entirely. In any case, the end result was Shinsou coughing and spluttering as his food went down the wrong pipe. Izuku quickly uncapped his own drink and shoved it at Shinsou.

"I thought you said Bakugo was your friend?" Uraraka asked as Shinsou recovered, a surprising amount of concern in her voice. "Did something happen?"

 _'Oh where to even begin with that question.'_ Izuku thought to himself. Aloud he said: "We were at one point...but that was a long time ago. I'm not sure what we qualify as these days... Anyway, I was going to tell you that Deku is a name Kacchan made up for me, it means 'useless'. So it's not one that I really like."

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry Midoriya! I didn't mean anything like that!"

"I know, it's okay, you couldn't have known."

An awkward silence descended upon the table, no one quite sure where to go from there. That is, until Iida gathered his thoughts.

"So, Shinsou," Iida began "you were saying that the entrance exam for UA is biased, but I'm not sure I follow what you mean. Would you please explain your point of view?"

Shinsou's eyebrows rose in surprise. He gave Iida a considering look, and apparently decided that his question was genuine.

"You saw what I did to that kid, Bakugo, right?" Shinsou asked.

"Indeed, I was impressed by how quickly and effectively you defused the situation. You used your quirk on him, correct?"

"Yes, I did. My quirk is called Brainwashing, and it allows me to control people who reply to me. Pretty useful for taking down villains right?"

"I imagine it would be. A lot of lives and property could be saved by simply being able to talk villains down." Iida agreed easily.

"My thoughts exactly, which is why I tried out for the hero course. The catch though, is that it only works on people, and the entrance exam was all about taking down machines. So I have an incredibly useful ability, but ended up being put in General Studies because I couldn't use it against the one type of enemy they had us fight. Now if I want to be a hero I'll have to find a round about way of getting into the Hero course, and once I do I'll be behind everyone else. It's biased."

"That's a good point Shinsou." Izuku said, his hand coming up to rest on his chin. "If the entrance exam is all about fighting robots, then it seems like the school is only looking for certain kinds of heroes: the ones that are naturally more physical with their quirk or fighting style. I suppose you could argue that they are hoping people with other types of quirks will be forced to get clever and show off their versatility, but that still seems to exclude a good number of people. Best Jeanist wouldn't do well in that type of test, since he controls fabric, but he's also one of the nation's top ranking heroes. Unless you could get points by interfering with the other contestants. Could you?" Izuku asked the group. Uraraka was the one to shake her head.

"No, it was all about a point system based on taking down the robots. You could steal 'kills' from other people but that was it. Actually messing with others got you disqualified."

"I see, so the point still stands. Plus there are the heroes that are based more around disaster relief and rescue who might have a hard time fighting robots as well. Overall it seems pretty unfair..."

"I...I will admit to seeing where you're coming from." Iida says, slow and thoughtful. "It is disturbing that a school as prestigious as UA would have such a major oversight inherent in their entrance exam, and I will have to question Mr. Aizawa about it. However, I know that they've at least attempted to rectify the problem that you just mentioned Midoriya."

"Really? How?" Izuku asked, tilting his head. Shinsou does the same, though not as noticeably as Izuku.

"Well, you see, I met Uraraka on the same day you did; the day of the entrance exam. During the practical she had gotten stuck under some rubble, just as a robot as tall as a building emerged."

"I was pretty sure I wouldn't actually get stomped on, because it was a test, but it was still scary. Especially since everyone but Iida ran away and left me there!" Uraraka said, crossing her arms indignantly.

"I'm ashamed to admit that I very nearly did the same. I had come to a similar conclusion, that she would be fine because it was a test, but then I thought of my brother. I want to follow in his footsteps one day, and I could not imagine him leaving anyone trapped in such a position, even if there was no real danger in sight. So I pushed my engine's into overdrive to get back to her before the robot could. It was a close call, it took a while to shift the rubble just the right way, but we both escaped. When I eventually received my acceptance letter it explained that my choice had earned me 'rescue points', which were added to my overall score. So, it may not be explained outright, but the test does try to take those who focus on rescue into account."

Iida had hoped that his story would show that UA's entrance standards were not quite as biased as the two boys had been making them out to be. He did not expect Midoriya to look at him with such bright, adoring eyes when he was done, nor did he expect Shinsou to start giving him that same considering look again. Nevertheless he was quite pleased by their reactions, especially when it lead into Midoriya questioning who his brother was and him getting to proudly explain his family's business.

The rest of the lunch period was taken up by questions about Iida's brother, The Turbo Hero Ingenium, and the kids comparing and contrasting how each department handled the first day. Uraraka seemed a bit put out that both Izuku and Shinsou had gotten at least some orientation before being thrust into anything, while Izuku was jealous that she'd gotten to see so many quirks put on display in her first day. Shinsou threw in a few jabs, but they lacked the bitter cynicism that his first words to Iida had held. Plus, he didn't object when Izuku started grilling the two Hero course students about how their quirks worked.

Izuku glanced over to where Kacchan had sat down. He had finished eating, but still sat there with a sort of 'zombified' look on his face. Izuku briefly wondered if Shinsou was capable of getting people to act more naturally while under his control, and added it to the growing list of things to test. A part of him felt bad seeing Kacchan in such a state, since he wasn't sure precisely how aware of his surroundings Kacchan was right now. But he reasoned that, if the altered mind state was truly harmful to Kacchan, then Shinsou probably wouldn't leave it in place for the entire period. So he decided to let it go for now, and added a few more quirk questions to his mental list.

Eventually the lunch period did come to an end, and they had to go to their respective classes. As Izuku was getting up to follow Shinsou, Uraraka pulled him off to the side.

"I don't know if it really changes anything, but I wanted to let you know that when I heard that nickname Bakugo gave you, I didn't ever think of it as 'useless'. To me it sounded a lot more positive, like, 'You can do it!', and that's what I thought of when using it. Does that make any sense?"

It took Izuku a moment to process how she would have made such a connection, but eventually he nodded and a goofy grin slowly spread across his face. That was enough for Uraraka, who gave him a quick goodbye before running off.

Izuku was familiar with the feeling of his entire world view shifting, but he never imagined it could feel quite this good.

* * *

 **A.N.**

I apologize for the long break between chapters. Things got kind of hectic at my work place, and then it was the holidays and everything got so busy...sigh. The trials of the writer, right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the end result! Thank you for staying with the story.


	7. Chapter 7

Midoriya Inko watched her son as he went about making breakfast, and realized she should have expected this. Inko always woke up very early, she needed the time to prepare for her shift and to make food for herself and Izuku. So the fact that Izuku had woken up before she did could only mean one thing.

"Good morning sweetie." Inko announced herself softly. Izuku smiled and returned her greeting, but the smile was forced and his voice sounded hollow. It confirmed her suspicions.

She didn't bring it up right away. It was best not to have emotional conversations while the stove was in use, so she busied herself with getting the table ready. When the food was done Izuku served it up and the two of them sat down at the table, but neither ate. Izuku stared down at his food, rubbing his eyes, and Inko stared at Izuku.

"You had the dream again."

Izuku nodded, and Inko's heart went out to him. After his father died, Izuku started having these mornings where he would wake up before Inko and do some sort of housework. Inko noticed that it usually happened on or near important dates, like birthdays, holidays, or even the first day of the new school year. It took some coaxing, but she did convince Izuku to tell her what was going on.

Izuku told her that he had this recurring nightmare. The nightmare would start out innocently, with Izuku and Hisashi chatting at they walked to the park. Then something would happen, there would be a villain attack or someone walking by would try to grab Izuku, and he would grab at Hisashi's hand fearfully, only to find that the hand was cold and stiff and when Izuku looked up his father stared down at him with a slack face and glazed over eyes.

Izuku insisted that it wasn't a big deal. That the dream only stole a bit of sleep and didn't happen often enough to be a problem. Still, with a milestone as big as getting into UA, she should have known Izuku's nightmare would resurface. Inko wished he wouldn't be such a martyr. She always told Izuku that there was no shame in getting help, but maybe that was part of the problem. She told, but did not demonstrate. She never saw anyone about the times she would stare forlornly at the empty side of the bed at night, or the stress of relearning all the tasks Hisashi had once been responsible for. Maybe they were both too self sacrificing to ask for help, but the great thing about family was that you didn't always need to ask.

Which was why no prompting was required for Inko to take her son's hand.

"I miss him too. I wish he could be here to see you now; I know he'd be so proud of you."

While the Midoriya's cried over their food, a similar scene was happening across the street. It too involved a single mother with a high school aged son. This scene was not as soft as the first, there was no crying and a lot more yelling and petty insults. But the ending was basically the same.

"It sucks that Masaru never got to see you take your first big step. You know how proud he'd have been of you, ya little shit?"

"Whatever, I always knew I'd get in. He would of known that too."

"Oh of _course_ he would. I remember how he showed it too, come here!"

"Get your hand out of my hair woman!"

* * *

Izuku was on his way to school now, and still rubbing at his eyes. Though at this point it was from tiredness rather than staving off tears.

Talking to his mom always helped him get through the emotional overload that the nightmare brought, even if she didn't know the whole story behind it. He had told her the main part, the stuff that was constant between each dream, but there were details that would come and go. Ones he couldn't tell her about without making her suspicious.

He couldn't tell her that the villain in the dream would sometimes ask Izuku to join him, because somehow he knew of the crime Izuku had already committed. It would be hard to explain that he sometimes grabbed his father's hand because Kacchan was coming after him demanding that Izuku 'Bring him back!'. It would be even harder to explain that same demand could come from strangers in the dream.

The fear that fueled that last detail was one he'd only developed in recent years. Once he got older, he would sometimes think about what might happen if his quirk was ever publicly revealed. If people knew what he could do, would they demand he use it? Would people beg him to bring loved ones back to life for one last word? One last 'I love you'? Doing that might not be so bad, but then he'd have to make the person go back to being dead, and the heartbreak would happen all over again. Or what if the loved one tried to stop him from touching the person again? What if they would force him to bring the person back for good and kill somebody else? And what if the person they wanted to bring back had been dead for a long time? He'd made a note that his quirk _'_ _seemed to prevent previous injuries from effecting the subject'_ , but that didn't mean the evidence of the injuries went away. The squashed bug he'd experimented with had remained...significantly flatter than the others, even though it managed to move around okay. His father's head injury hadn't just disappeared either. If he was forced to use his power on someone who died of violent injury, or had decomposed significantly...he didn't want to think about it. Even if he didn't have other reasons for hiding his quirk, then he probably would have ended up hiding it to keep any of that from happening.

No matter how you looked at it, things were better when no one knew he had a quirk.

Izuku shook his head, and tried to focus on the present. He thought about what was on his agenda, and suddenly smiled. That's right, Shinsou was coming over today!

Just as predicted, Shinsou and Izuku had ended up sitting by each other for the second half of their first day. They had both instantly recognized their English teacher as Present Mic, to Izuku's glee and Shinsou's dismay. Well, dismay may have been too strong a word, but Shinsou did go on about how Present Mic was too loud. At least Mr. Yamada had kept his speakers turned off after the first 'HELLO!'. When they got to History, Izuku had not recognized the scruffy man sitting behind the desk, but Shinsou had. Izuku put the pieces together when Shinsou called the teacher Eraserhead. Since he was an underground hero there weren't many videos of him, so it was pretty impressive that Shinsou had managed to recognize him so quickly.

After school had ended and the two new friends parted ways, Izuku had gone home and grabbed a bunch of pillows and a video camera. He spread the pillows out on the floor and set the video camera up so it would catch him trying, and failing, to do a hand stand. He'd been a bit sore after several attempts, but he would need a control to compare his brainwashed performance to.

It was good that he and Shinsou had exchanged numbers, because that made it easier to keep track of when Shinsou was available to come over. Apparently he worked part time at a small vet clinic, so he wasn't always available after school or over the weekends. Eventually they'd figured out they were both free Wednesday afternoon, which was today after school.

The second day had gone just about the same as the first. Seeing pro heroes was still awesome, though he'd managed to stop going into 'full fanboy mode', as Shinsou called it, by now. He and Shinsou chatted with Wakiya and Imari at the start of Literature class, and they sat with Uraraka and Iida during lunch. Though Shinsou had mentioned some Gen Ed students that had invited him to hang out at lunch time too, and he said Izuku was welcome to join.

Izuku wasn't used to so many people wanting him around, or that didn't mind him being around, at least. With that hopeful thought in his head, Izuku completed his walk to school in a much better mood.

* * *

"You're sure this is okay with your mom?" Shinsou asked as he walked beside Izuku. The school day had ended, and Izuku and Shinsou were now on their way to Izuku's apartment.

"Oh yeah, she was thrilled when I asked if a friend could come over. I haven't really had anyone over since...well, since I was a little kid. She's probably worried about my social growth or something." Izuku admitted sheepishly. Shinsou let out an amused huff, but didn't comment further.

"So, uh, anything new in the Gen Ed department?" Izuku asked. Shinsou shrugged.

"Nothing much. Naya and Obara are bugging me to eat with their group, and I was thinking of doing that tomorrow. You wanna come?"

"Sure! I'd love to meet more of your class."

"Gives you a chance to interrogate more people about their quirks right?" Shinsou asked with a smirk. Izuku laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, hopefully we'd do more than just that, but if they were up for it I wouldn't be opposed."

"Oh, I'm sure you could convince a couple of them. There's this one kid, Toujou I think, who likes to tell this story about using his quirk after a villain attack. It's only the first week and I've already heard it twice."

"Is it a good story?"

"It's not bad. How are things in Management?"

"Well, Ms. Kayama gave us this big group project to work on today. We're supposed to come up with ideas about how we could improve the way agencies are run, or how agencies could deploy their heroes more effectively. We need to write up a fully developed proposal by the end of the first semester, and then work on making it a reality during the second semester. We've already been assigned teams, but we've only just met so I don't know much about my group members yet. Kure definitely has a mutant type quirk, which I think is based off of a seal, or maybe an otter. Okabe looks younger than most of the class, so she might have skipped a grade in school, but I haven't asked her yet. I also saw her playing with these dark, sticky strings in class, but didn't see where she got them so she might produce them. And then there's Tahara..."

Despite having little information, Izuku went on about the project and his new teammates. Shinsou never tried to stop him, and instead just listened until the onslaught of words ran dry. The pair arrived at Izuku's door, and he blushed when he realized how long he'd been going on.

"Oh, we're here. Wow, sorry about talking your ear off."

"Don't worry about it. It's kind of nice having someone else carry the conversation." Shinsou replied, smiling lightly.

Izuku felt his blush deepen, and quickly turned away to open the door.

* * *

"What's up with the video camera?"

"It's part of the experiment." Izuku explianed.

Shinsou was helping arrange pillows and cushions in the living room while Izuku set up the same camera he'd used before.

"I've already filmed myself trying to handstand on my own. I tried ten times before stopping, then calculated the average amount of time it took me to fall over. So now I'm going to record myself again, and see if that average increases while I'm being brainwashed."

"And then you can do it again later to see if you've improved because of the brainwashing?"

"Right!" Izuku beamed. Shinsou shook his head.

"You know, I've never understood people who got excited about math."

"Well, I'm not really excited about the math. I'm excited about what the math will tell me."

"Ah, so the math is a necessary evil. That makes more sense."

Izuku laughed. Shinsou wasn't the kind of person to crack jokes, but his deadpan deliveries could be just as funny.

"All set then?" Shinsou asked. Izuku nodded.

"Yep, just let me get into position." Izuku wound his way around the pillows and to the center of the room. "The camera's recording, right?"

"Looks like it." Shinsou stood beside the camera, which was propped up on an end table. "You ready?"

"Do it."

When Izuku had been trying to figure out how to manipulate replacement death, one of the things he'd experimented with were meditation techniques. Among those techniques was self hypnosis, which he still used to help himself fall asleep at night. Whenever Izuku had thought about what Shinsou's brainwashing might feel like, he'd thought about the feelings he got while hypnotized. He would feel heavy, sort of disconnected from his senses, and the world around him gradually became distant. He hypothesized that Shinsou's brainwashing would feel similar, since hypnosis was also supposed to make you open to suggestion, and he was right.

Partially.

The moment Izuku replied to Shinsou, the world around him suddenly felt distant. Like his conscious mind had sort of fallen back in on itself, but the effect was instantaneous and jarring rather than relaxing. It felt like there was fog filling his head, and everything he saw looked like it was on a TV with bad reception. Low pitched static filled his ears, but he could still hear Shinsou order him to do a handstand.

He felt both of his arms raise up, felt himself tilt back, and then start to throw himself forward as one of his legs stepped forward as well. He felt his hands plant themselves into the carpet, and the momentum stared to carry his legs upwards, and it all felt familiar. Despite the strange sensations a part of him recognized all of these movements as things he'd recently done. But then something new happened. His abdominal muscles and glutes tightened in a way he hadn't tried before, and suddenly he was balancing on his hands with both his legs straight up in the air.

 _'I'm actually doing a handstand!'_ Izuku thought with glee. _'Well, sort of, but it's still cool!'_

It only last for a couple seconds before he felt himself pitching backwards. He landed among the cushions, so the fall didn't really hurt, but it still sent a physical jolt through him. When that happened, the static disappeared and he was back in control.

"Whoa." Was Izuku's eloquent reaction.

"Hey, you okay?" Shinsou asked, leaning over him nervously. His head blocked out the light above Izuku, and he was reminded of just how tall Shinsou was.

"Yeah, I feel fine."

"You sure?" Shinsou's persistance made Izuku frown.

"Positive." Izuku replied. He stood up and stretched his arms out to the sides. "See? I'm good. Did it look that painful?"

"Well, no. But you came out of the brainwashing before I released you."

"Really? Huh..." Izuku moved his limbs around experimentally, and only felt a lingering soreness from bruises he got days ago. "I really do feel fine. You suppose the impact from the fall somehow broke your control?"

"That might be it...you wanna do it again to find out?"

"Of course!"

Izuku's theory seemed to be correct, because Izuku broke out of the mind control after every fall except one. That was the one time Shinsou managed to kick one the long couch cushions right under Izuku as he fell, which negated more of the impact.

"So, I think what we've learned here is that you'll have to be careful when making villains step off the curb." Izuku said with mock seriousness.

"Well, that and the fact that I could make it as a gymnastics teacher if being a pro hero doesn't work out."

Izuku had been able to do a handstand every time Shinsou had told him too, and was pretty sure his time had increased by the end, so that was probably accurate.

"You wanna stay for supper?" Izuku asked while they cleaned up the living room. "Mom already said that it would be okay."

"I suppose...where is your Mom anyway?"

"She works as a nurse at Mustafa General, so she won't be home for a little while yet."

"What about your Dad?" Shinsou asked. He frowned at Izuku's obvious wince.

"He's dead."

"Oh...I'm s-"

"It happened a long time ago." Izuku plowed ahead. "I need to prep a few thing for supper. You wanna get a start on history while I do that?"

And that's how the two of them ended up in the kitchen. Izuku worked by the stove and Shinsou read aloud from their assigned reading. And this, in turn, lead to another test of Shinsou's quirk.

"Hey, Shinsou, all the chapters come with suggested questions at the end, right? You mind asking me one from a future chapter? With your quirk, I mean."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow at Izuku, but started flipping through the pages anyway.

"You ready?"

Izuku put his spatula down on the counter. "Yep."

The static filled Izuku's mind and he heard Shinsou say:

"Tell me what the Shadow Proclamation is."

Nothing happened. Izuku just stood there in his brainwashed state until, after several seconds, Shinsou released him.

"So what exactly was the point of that?" Shinsou asked.

"I wanted to know if your quirk had the ability to make me give information that I didn't have."

"What, you honestly though that my quirk could somehow plant information into your head?" Shinsou asked incredulously. Izuku shrugged.

"Well, I thought that was pretty unlikely, but now we know for sure. And I figured that was an important thing to know, probably more important than that first test actually."

Shinsou closed the history book and gave Izuku his full attention. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," Izuku picked the spatula back up and turned down the stove's heat. "have you ever thought about what kind of hero you wanted to be?"

"Plenty." Shinsou replied. "Thought about being a big time hero as a kid, but these days I see myself more as an underground hero, if I ever get there. I'm not really comfortable on camera, and it's always easier to use my quirk if people don't know about it."

"You'll get there." Izuku said, shooting Shinsou a warm smile. He turned back to the food before he could see the pink start to tint Shinsou's face. "And I was thinking that you might end up being more underground, like Eraserhead. I still need to look into it, but I figured underground heroes would work more closely with the police since they usually don't have sidekicks to fall back on. Now that its confirmed that you can't force someone to tell you something that they don't know, it'll really open up your options for working with the police. Just think about how easy it would be for you to interrogate someone! One word and you could get them to confess everything."

"What if someone tried to claim I used my quirk to force them to lie?" Shinsou challenged, though he sounded more curious than antagonistic.

"Hmmm...that could be a problem. You might need to tape all your interrogations so that lawyers can prove you didn't, but it could still work!" Izuku's enthusiasm was infectious, and Shinsou found himself smiling through his tiredness.

"Well, I guess I'll change my back up career from gymnastics teacher to police officer."

"Normally I'd say don't give up on your dream so easily, but All Might did tell me once that being a police officer was a noble profession." Izuku smirked, and Shinsou's jaw dropped.

"All Might told you- you've talked to All Might?!"

* * *

Izuku had just finished up the story of how All Might had saved him from a villain when Midoriya Inko arrived.

"You must be Izuku's new friend, Shinsou, right? It's wonderful to meet you!" Inko said, after giving her son a hug. Shinsou stood up to greet her properly.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Midoriya."

"Oh, you're so polite, and so tall too! I've just barely gotten used to Izuku being taller than me you know. You kids are gonna make me start feeling like a little old lady!"

The three of them chatted as they set up the table. Well, most of the chatting was done by Izuku and his mom. Shinsou seemed to have become a bit more reserved ever since Inko came home, though you wouldn't have guessed it based off of how cheery she continued to be.

"Your quirk sounds like such an interesting one too, and that's saying something considering that Izuku's lectured me on just about every quirk under the sun."

"Mooooom." Izuku groaned.

"You know about my quirk?" Shinsou asked, eyes wide with surprise.

"Of course. Izuku told me about it after the first day of school, and I had to agree with him. It sounds like just the thing a hero could use to stop a fight quickly. Which would be a nice change of pace with all the smashed buildings we usually get."

"I...Thank you."

After that, Shinsou didn't seem quite so tense. He still wasn't nearly as talkative as the two Midoriyas, but he added in his own thoughts here and there. Before they knew it dinner was over and it was time for Shinsou to head home.

"You could stay over if you wanted."

"Mom, he didn't bring any overnight stuff."

"I know, but it's already getting dark out..."

"I'll be fine Mrs. Midoriya, the train station isn't far from here. Thank you both for having me over, and for supper."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all. Make sure to come back soon okay? It's so nice when Izuku has friends over."

"I think he gets the picture Mom."

When Shinsou finally did exit the Midoriya household, it was with a smile on his face, leftovers in his hands, and plans for the future.

* * *

 **A.N.**

Not gonna lie, when I wrote the part about Izuku not wanting to bring long dead people back to life, I thought about the Genie from Disney's Alladin.

Zombie Genie: "I can't bring people back from the dead. It's not a pretty picture. I DON'T LIKE DOING IT!"

In case anyone is confused, no I'm not skipping over Uraraka and Iida mentioning the battle trial. I'm just inserting a few more days in here because I feel like these characters need time to breathe, you know? The majority of friendships don't develop overnight, and I want them to get a little chance to get to know each other before jumping into the thick of things. This chapter takes place on Wednesday, and the battle trial will be on Thursday, so it will be brought up in the next chapter. What are the 1-A kids doing in the mean time? Well, they did mention they have some normal high school classes, just like the other courses do. As for home room, let's say Aizawa is putting them through some battle and training exercises, just none quite as extreme as All Might's battle trial. Not every kid automatically knows how to study for a test, so I imagine a good number of UA students might not know the best ways to train a quirk, especially since legal use of them is limited before UA. Aizawa wants to make sure these kids have some good training habits to fall back on, so don't end up hurting themselves.


	8. Chapter 8

Thursday: Home room

"Ahh!" Tahara yelped as she tripped toward her desk. Her tan knuckles turned white as she tightly grabbed the back of her chair. Okabe's purple pig tails bounced on top of her head as she laughed at Tahara's yell.

Izuku leaned over his own desk to see what happened and saw those dark, sticky strings, the ones Okabe played with in class, tangling up Tahara's feet. Apparently Okabe did create them somehow, he'd have to make a note of that.

"You okay Tahara?" He asked. She sat down with a huff and brushed a silver lock of hair out of her face.

"I'd be better if someone could learn not to use their quirk inappropriately." She shot a look at Okabe, who just giggled.

"But where's the fun in that?"

Tahara's response to this was to flick her fingers toward Okabe. A cloud of mist surrounded the younger girl's head, and she struggled to fan it away. When the mist finally dissipated, Okabe could be seen pouting at Tahara, who was smiling smugly.

"Well, turns out you were right, that was fun."

"Guys, come on." Kure interrupted. Her animalistic features made her expression hard to read, but her voice was stern. "We've gotta get a start on this project."

Okabe rolled her eyes. "You worry too much seal girl, we got the whole semester to work on this."

"Procrastinating now will lead to a rushed project later. And my name is not 'seal girl'."

"Seriously, **Kure** , you gotta learn to relax and-"

WHAAHH-PSSSH!

The entire class jumped and several people, including Okabe, let out a surprised yell. Izuku almost gave himself whiplash turning toward the source of the noise, and saw Midnight standing at the front of the classroom brandishing a whip.

"Heart check!" she said gleefully. "I'll be doing those every now and then, just to make sure no one is getting too _complacent_ about their long term goals."

"It's like she knows." Tahara muttered, her hand on her chest.

"Well, I think she's been a teacher for a while, so she's probably used to students not taking things seriously right away." Izuku pointed out.

"Which is why we should get our project going right away and defy her expectations." Kure said, her voice full of satisfaction. Kure had jumped the highest out of their group, so Izuku was impressed with how quickly she recovered.

"We could push our desks into a square and brainstorm for a while." Izuku suggested. Kure nodded.

"I do have a few ideas already, but being able to face each other and have a common work surface should help us sort through things."

Each member of the group got up to move their desk. Izuku glanced around the room as he did so, ignoring the argument that ensued about removing the strings from Tahara's legs. He noticed that theirs was the only group that had desks to make an actual rectangle; all the other groups were made up of just three people. He wondered if that was intentional.

Izuku shook off that thought and focused on the group. As they threw ideas out, Izuku began to notice that each girl had a different interest when it came to management. Tahara's ideas all seemed to focus on improving the way public relations were handled, such as giving the heroes more protection from crazed media. Okabe wanted to talk about organizing an agency's heroes so the best people for the job would be sent to the right location, and Kure's ideas all seemed to revolve around optimizing the use of technology.

Izuku was a bit jealous. Each of his teammates seemed to have an idea of what they wanted to do within the management department, while Izuku hadn't given it much thought beyond wanting to work at a hero agency. However, the downside to their conviction was that none of them wanted to work on what the others wanted to work on. Izuku would have been happy to give any one of their ideas a try, and let them know it, but the group as a whole couldn't agree on a direction.

"What about improving the way heroes are summoned?" Izuku asked, an idea striking him. The others looked confused, so Izuku rushed to continue. "The most common way people call for help during villain attacks is to call the police, right? I mean, people tend to know the numbers of agencies close to their home, but they can't memorize all of the agency numbers, so they call the police when they are away from home. That gets the police into motion quickly, but it also means the police have to work as a middle man and let the local heroes know what's going on. If you could alert the heroes directly it could save time and lives."

"Interesting." Kure said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. It showed off the webbing between her thumb and pointer finger. "I think agencies usually have a mass texting system that helps get the word out for big attacks, but I'll bet we could improve on that.

"So, it would be something that would automatically send out updates to heroes? Like those apps that send you all the latest sale coupons or major news articles?" Tahara asked. Kure was nodding now.

"An app could work out great actually. We could make two different versions, one for civilians so they could report villains, and one for heroes so that could receive those reports. Or maybe just one that could do both so people could avoid where attacks are happening."

"Well, that last option might just encourage people to go to those areas." Izuku pointed out, thinking about his own childhood. "And if we go for two different apps, then we'd want to make the 'hero version' available to the police too. Wouldn't want to accidentally cut them out."

"That's a good point Midoriya, we'll have to think of some precautions, but you are definitely on to something." Kure gave him a sharp toothed smile.

"Oh, oh! If the app sent out updates to all heroes that have it, then even heroes that are outside their usual jurisdiction would get it! Heroes might not have to wait so long for back up that way." Okabe said excitedly. Tahara jumped in right afterward.

"We'd have to make sure that the reporting portion was detailed enough so that heroes have an idea of what they are heading into, but not so detailed that it would take a lot of time to fill out."

Izuku smiled, and started jotting down all the potential app features in his notebook. Now it felt like they were getting somewhere.

* * *

Thursday: Literature Class

"Hi guys!" Wakiya greeted them with a bright smile. Izuku returned the greeting, while Shinsou raised an eyebrow at her. Imari just looked tired.

"What's got you in such a chipper mood?" Shinsou asked, which prompted Wakiya to smile wider and Imari to groan.

"I connected with someone from the support course! She's a first year too, and was ecstatic to hear about my quirk and the idea to use it in tandem with support items." Wakiya turned to singularly address Izuku. "Thank you so much for giving me the idea! I think this will really up my chances!"

"O-oh, I didn't do that much." Izuku protested. "And making it effective is all up to you. I mean, you gotta jump through all the hoops to get permission and figure out what to use and how to use it-"

"Don't worry, we're already working on that! Apparently she already knew what she wanted to develop and take with her to the festival, talk about prepared! But now that she has a chance to show off even more of her work she's gonna fight for it! And I'm gonna fight for my chance too! Typically people outside the support class don't get to bring support items, but since my quirk is the thing that would allow me access to them we're hoping that they'll make an exception. And if they don't, then I'll figure out how to use everyday stuff to help me and pack that into my Hammerspace instead!"

Izuku listened closely to the whole explanation, though out of the corner of his eye he was aware of the way Shinsou kept looking back and forth between Wakiya and Imari. The latter looked like he was trying to get a nap in before class.

"I hadn't even thought about improvised weaponry; it's so cool that you're thinking outside the box Wakiya!" Izuku beamed back at her.

"It's not a bad plan." Shinsou admitted, a sly smile growing on his face. "You might want to reign yourself in a bit though. Or else you'll drive your boyfriend here crazy by the end of the day."

Imaria sat bolt upright, and Wakiya spluttered.

"IMARI IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

"You didn't have to deny it so loudly..."

The out of the blue accusation did draw Wakiya's attention to how tired Imari looked. So she made an effort to lower her voice until Cementoss officially started class.

* * *

Thursday: Lunch

Shinsou led Izuku over to a group of students he'd never met before. He'd already texted Uraraka and Iida to let them know not to expect him and Shinsou, but Izuku still caught sight of them as he walked through the cafeteria. They both looked kinda worn out, and it made him wonder what the Hero course had been up to that morning.

"Shinsou! You finally came!"

Apparently they'd arrived at their destination while Izuku was distracted, their destination being a table full of Gen Ed students. Izuku's anxiety skyrocketed when he realized he was about to be introduced to five people all at once.

The person who had called out to them was the lone girl of the group. She had long, light brown hair, thin eyebrows, and was grinning at Shinsou.

"And here I was beginning to think you didn't like us."

"Hanging out with people from your own class for the first few days would be too cliché. I'm trying to break the mold." Shinsou replied. A boy with brown hair and square jaw laughed.

"Trying to stand out already huh? Guess you really are prepping to get into the hero course when the time comes."

"This is Midoriya." Shinsou said, blatantly ignoring the boy's comment. The boy didn't seem perturbed.

"H-hi, nice to meet you all." Izuku said, and gave a small bow over his lunch tray.

"I'm Naya." The girl replied. "Now sit down already; your food is gonna get cold."

"I'm Obara." The boy said, as Izuku sat down next to him. Shinsou sat across from them, next to Naya. "Shinsou mentioned you were in Management. He hasn't been bugging you for tips on how to market himself, has he?"

"Oh, n-no, nothing like that! We just, you know, have classes together, and stuff." Izuku felt his face heating up, and wondered what the others must have thought of his _oh so eloquent_ response. At least he wasn't muttering yet.

"Hey Midoriya." Izuku looked across the table to a tan, red headed boy, sitting next to Naya. "I'm Niikura." The boy held his hand out to Izuku, so he took it. The moment he did, Izuku felt a calm emptiness wash over him. He blinked, and Niikura smiled and took back his hand.

"Feel better? Sorry if that was too forward, but you sounded pretty stressed so I figured you wouldn't mind. Nervous around new people, right?"

"I don't understand." Izuku stated.

"Niikura's quirk is Emotion Banishment." Shinsou explained, giving Niikura a side-eyed glance. "That's why he went as far as a handshake, so he could calm you down."

"So you need to touch someone to activate it?" Izuku asked, no eagerness in his voice. Shinsou frowned, and turned to the red head.

"I think you went a little overboard Niikura, he sounds like a robot."

Niikura grimaced, then reached across the table and pat Izuku on the head. "There you go, sorry about that."

Emotions rushed back into Izuku's awareness. It was overwhelming, but only for a moment. He grinned, his nerves now replaced with excitement over the prospect of learning about more quirks.

"That's so cool Niikura! Can you affect the emotions of more than one person as long as you touch them? Can you decide which emotions to banish? Does it have a time limit?"

"Oh my," Niikura said with a laugh. "Shinsou, you didn't warn us he was so enthusiastic about other people's quirks!"

"It never seemed like a bad quality." Shinsou replied with a shrug. Meanwhile, Izuku was stuttering an apology.

"No worries dude. To answer your questions: I'm not sure, to an extent, and yes."

"Come on man, you know he wants more than that." Said a dark haired boy with a bowl cut. He smiled eagerly at Izuku. "I'm Toujou Takamori, and do I have a story for you!" Everyone at the table let out a collective groan, but no one tried to stop him.

Apparently, Toujou's quirk was called Glow Light, and it was the ability to make little floating balls of light. Once, after a villain attack had caused a blackout in Toujou's neighborhood, he'd used his quirk to help light up the inside of his apartment building, which helped calm panic considerably. Then when emergency services arrived on scene he was able to give them additional light to work with. They had all been quite grateful for it, Toujou explained.

The rest of the table huffed about how much they'd already heard about it, but Izuku drank in all the details. He'd have to remember it all well if he wanted to write it down later.

After Toujou's story finished, small talk quickly took its place. Izuku told the group what the Management department was like, explaining the group project they'd been assigned and what sort of classes he went to. In return, he got a little more information about the General Education department. Apparently their curriculum wasn't quite so focused on data and business, and instead had the typical classes one might expect at a High School. Of course, this was UA, so even the 'normal' classes weren't exactly laid back. Izuku got a few stories about intense assignments or wacky student-teacher interactions. He even shared the story of Midnight's 'heart checks', which got a laugh out of everyone.

Well, except for one person. There was a kid at the end of the table that Izuku had never gotten a name for, and who hadn't really said anything since Izuku sat down. The kid had short, dark green hair, and seemed to be squinting every time Izuku looked at them. Maybe they were just really focused?

"Um, not to be rude, but is that kid okay?" Izuku asked Shinsou. Shinsou glanced down to the end of the table, and shrugged.

"I think so? He zones out a lot."

"Oh, did Yamoto dial his quirk up again?" Obara asked, follwing Shinsou's gaze.

"Ugh, that's such a rude thing to do at the table, and when we have new people and everything!" Naya complained. "Hey, Niikura, Toujou, could one of you give him a shove or something?"

Toujou waved his hand in front of Yamoto's face, and they startled. He looked around, then sighed.

"Dang it, lost track of time again. I only meant to dampen my hearing until the end of Toujou's story..."

"You made yourself near deaf just so you didn't have to listen to me?!" Toujou was nearly shouting in outrage. Yamoto just shrugged while Niikura laughed and teased Toujou about how he needed new stories.

Naya and Obara explained that Yamoto's quirk was Protected Senses. They could nullify things meant to affect their senses, so they wouldn't be affected by things like strobe lights or loud bangs. Apparently they were in the habit of dialing it up on just one sense if they felt things were too annoying.

It was a fascinating ability, and Izuku immediately theorized that Yamoto would be able get close to Present Mic even if the hero was yelling. So of course Izuku spent the rest of the lunch hour quizzing Yamoto about the extent of his quirk.

* * *

Thursday: Night:

 **Midoriya:**

Hey

Hey Shinsou, are you awake?

 **Shinsou:**

Unfortunately, yes.

Why?

 **Midoriya:**

Can I call you?

 **Shinsou:**

sure, don't see why not

"Hi Shinsou." Izuku greeted over the phone. He was laying down in bed, an vaguely wondered if Shinsou was too.

"Hello Midoriya." _'Meow!'_ "Hush you." _'Mrrrrow!'_

"Is that a cat?" Izuku asked.

"No Midoriya, it's a dog." Shinsou said sarcastically. Izuku could picture him rolling his eyes. "I gave him food an hour ago, there's even some left in his bowl, but you'd think he was starving." Shinsou sighed. "Baby, why do you think sitting on my chest will help?"

"You named your cat 'Baby'?"

"No, but he's being a whiny baby, so that's what he gets called."

"Ha! That makes sense."

"So...why exactly did you call me?"

"Oh yeah! I wanted to tell you that I finished the handstand test. After you used your quirk on me I was able to do a handstand on my own, though I didn't stay upright as long as I did when you were brainwashing me. So my hypothesis was correct!"

"That is an interesting result." Shinsou admitted. "But couldn't that revelation have waited for school tomorrow? It is pretty late and all."

"R-right, um, sorry about the time, but that wasn't all I was calling about. I also thought of a new quirk test for you, and it's one we can do right now!"

"...okay, I'm curious. What did you have in mind?"

"We're gonna see if you can use your quirk on someone over the phone."

"You want me to brainwash you into doing something right now? Or at least try to?" Shinsou sounded skeptical, but that didn't deter Izuku.

"Yeah! Just think about the potential applications! You could resolve hostage situations in a snap if this works!"

Shinsou hummed thoughtfully. "That would be pretty cool. Let's give it a shot then."

A few minutes later, Izuku stood in the bathroom, staring resentfully at his own reflection. Maybe he should have waited till tomorrow to test this; tomorrow AFTER school. Izuku rubbed at his forehead, trying to wipe away the words 'Hero Otaku', which he'd just written in black marker.

"Well, it could be worse." Izuku sighed into his phone. "It's not like everyone doesn't already know."

Shinsou laughed.

* * *

Friday: Lunch

Thankfully, Izuku was able to wash the marker off by the time school started. So, he didn't have to suffer through explaining it to Uraraka and Iida when he and Shinsou joined them for lunch. Instead, they could get right into what had made the Hero course kids so tired the day before.

It was a battle trial. A battle trial taught by All Might. UA really didn't do anything by halves. After Izuku was done fanboying over the prospect of having All Might as a teacher, he begged the pair to tell him how their battles had gone. Uraraka was hesitant to talk about it though.

"It would be a boring story, I didn't do that much honestly."

"I think the rest of the class would disagree." Iida countered. "I believe Jirou said something about wanting the footage so she could edit it into an online video." Uraraka groaned and put her head in her hands. Shinsou gave Iida a goading smile.

"Now we have to hear it."

"Well, to start with, there aren't an even number of students in our class, so for each group to go once there had to be a couple groups of three while the rest were all pairs. Uraraka and I were both on groups of three." He said, his hands moving like he was actually slotting things into different groups.

"I was on a team with a girl named Yaoyorozu and a boy named Mineta." Uraraka explained, finally looking up. "We were the villain team, so we had to protect this big fake bomb from the heroes. Yaoyorozu has this really cool quirk where she can, like, create things from her body? I'm not sure how it works, but she made a bunch of steal bars and placed them over the door so the other team couldn't get in. It was a great plan, but there wasn't much for me and Mineta to do. I ended up talking with her while she was getting it all set up though. I told her about how I didn't like how tight they had made my hero outfit, and asked if she was happy with hers. Then Mineta..."

Uraraka trailed off, scowling at whatever she was remembering. Iida tapped her on the shoulder and she snapped out of it.

"Mineta made some _comments_ about what he thought of our costumes, which I will **not** repeat. And since he wasn't doing anything helpful anyway, I decided that he could make up for it by providing entertainment while we waited."

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Shinsou said, with raised eyebrows.

"It wasn't anything harmful. She just used her quirk on him to make him float around the room." Iida explained. "Though she did smack him on the head to make him float, and then did it again to make him spin."

"He deserved it." Uraraka stated resolutely. She only continued the story when each of the boys assured her that they weren't arguing that.

"So we waited for the hero team to show up, which was Jirou, Kaminari, and Bakugo. They tried to break down the door, but none of their powers were strong enough. Bakugo was gonna try a more powerful explosion but the others wouldn't let him because they were afraid of damaging the building too badly. Instead of working with them, Bakugo got frustrated and went off on his own."

"That sounds like Kaachan." Izuku admitted.

"So Bakugo, he finds the nearest outside window and launches himself out of it, using his explosions to propel himself around the building until he gets to our window. And well, I was really worried about all the booms I kept hearing, and Yoayorozu and I couldn't really talk because they were so loud, and then all of a sudden Bakugo appears outside the window, and startled it me so bad I- uh- kinda panicked and just threw something at him."

"'Something'?" Izuku asked curiously. "What was it?"

Iida smiled, uncharacteristically mischievous, and said:

"She threw Mineta at him."

Izuku's mouth fell open, and Shinsou snorted into his food.

"I- I didn't even think about it...I just grabbed the closest thing. Well, the only thing I guess..." Uraraka mumbled, her face turning red.

"I think that was pretty creative, especially for split second thinking. A good use of your quirk." Izuku encouraged, trying not to giggle. Shinsou didn't bother holding back.

"That's great!" he cackled "Brings whole new meaning to 'teamwork'!"

"Funny you should say that, All Might said something similar after the trial was done." Iida said. Uraraka groaned again.

"So what happened next?" Izuku asked. Uraraka rushed to explain, all too happy to bring an end to the story.

"Mineta ended up smacking into Bakugo's face, and stuck there. So they both fell down, but Bakugo broke the fall with his explosions. It gave Yoayorozu just enough time to create something to cover up the windows, so Bakugo couldn't just fly right back in. He did get up there again and tired to get through, but time ran out before he was able to, so we won."

"Awesome! Congratulations!" Izuku gushed. Shinsou smiled.

"That was a wild ride."

"Yeah, not the most glamorous way to win." Uraraka said with a sigh. "But we did get praised for technically working together when the other team didn't. And Yoayorozu and I are better friends now, so I guess it all worked out."

"What about you Iida? How did your team do?" Izuku asked. Now it was Iida's turn to sigh.

"Not nearly as well I'm afraid. I was on a villain team with our Ojiro and Hagakure against Shoji and Todoroki. We were quite handily beaten."

 _'Todoroki, that names sounds familiar.'_ Izuku thought.

"But not before Iida worked up an impressive villain speech," Uraraka said with a playful smile. "That's what I want film of."

"It can hardly be called impressive if it cost me the match." Iida argued.

"You lost by, what, monologuing?" Shinsou asked incredulously. Iida pushed up his glasses.

"Todoroki's quirk is half cold half hot. His first move was to freeze the entire building, which put my companions out of commission because they were both bare foot. I ran a short ways when I realized what was happening, and was only partially frozen. Given that, and the design of my hero costume, I was able to free myself. However, I could not release my companions without injuring them. I tried to take Todoroki on alone, and was able to surprise him. Unfortunately, I got too wrapped up in my role, and took a moment to declare my villainous intent. Todoroki took advantage and froze me again, and I was unable to escape before he put the capture tape around me."

"Even if you lost, seeing you act the villain was so awesome! Todoroki's face was priceless!" Uraraka cheered. Iida gave her a small smile.

"Heh, it was rather amusing. And I can hardly blame Todoroki for his actions, it was the most logical thing to do."

"So...can we footage of those fights?" Izuku asked.

"We ask for purely academic reasons." Shinsou assured.

The heroes-in-training both sighed.

* * *

Friday: English

Hisashi, aka Present Mic, enjoyed teaching English. He had a fondness for the language, often using it during his radio show and even his hero work, and he liked being able to help these kids figure out how to use it. On the good days, it was like he was opening up new cultures to his students, giving them the tools to form a better understanding of the world outside of Japan. On the bad days, well, at least he got to have a chuckle at some of the students horrible pronunciations. He would do his best to help them learn the proper way of course, but there was no harm in finding a bit of entertainment in it.

Today he'd decided to start things off with a pop quiz, much to the chagrin of his first year class. Ah well, they'd learn to anticipate these things as the year went on. The school motto was all about going beyond, after all.

When everyone was finished Hisashi had put the quiz answers up on the screen and had the students grade each others papers. This way, the kids got immediate feedback, and he didn't have to spend so much time grading. It was a win-win!

Once the grading was done and questions were asked, Hisashi went around the class gathering up the quizzes. The students chatted as he did so, which resulted in him overhearing an interesting conversation.

The conversation was between two boys who had sat next to each other since the first day of class. Midoriya and Shinsou, if he recalled correctly. They were an interesting pair, with Shinsou always looking half-dead and Midoriya radiating energy. They managed to have the same level of attentiveness though, and sometimes helped each other during exercises. Honestly, they sort of reminded Hisashi of himself and Shota.

Speaking of Shota, the two of them must have had friends in class 1A, because they were talking about the battle trial Shota's homeroom had done the day before. Just as Hisashi was approaching them, the topic shifted a bit.

"What other kinds of trials do you suppose they'll end up doing in the Hero course?"

"No clue."

"Well, hopefully they'll do more than just battle stuff. Like maybe ones that focus on responding to natural disasters, or hostage situations."

"How would they do hostages though? Just tie up a bunch of dummies or something?"

"I suppose that would be easiest, but this is UA. You'd think they'd go for something more realistic, like having actual people play the hostages. Then maybe assign random ones to panic or try to stop the villains themselves. I mean, I know the majority of people would just let the heroes do their jobs, but not everyone does."

"Never underestimate the power the human stupidity huh?"

"I was thinking of the power of panic or arrogance, but that applies too."

"You've gotta point." Hisashi comments, startling the two of them. "Hostages always make things crazy. Having someone lash out is rare, but hey, doesn't mean it won't happen."

Hisashi held out his hand for their papers, and they handed over their quizzes without looking at him directly. Well, he couldn't leave them feeling embarrassed. He gave their quizzes a quick look.

"Ah Midoriya, looks like you're really learning these grammar rules. Impressive, considering how wacky they made them." Hisashi internally cheered when that got a laugh out of Midoriya. "And Shinsou, I gotta say your pronunciations are great. You really pick up on the nuances in how things sound." Aw, yes! A smile from Shinsou.

Heh, even the kid's smile made him think of Shota. Hisashi couldn't wait for the last period to be over.

* * *

Friday: History

"Shinsou, can you stay after class for a few minutes?" Aizawa asked. The student in question shot a look at his friend, who was already getting up from his desk. They looked at each other for a minute before Shinsou waved the other boy on.

"I have an after school job to get to, so I can't stay too long." Shinsou replied. Aizawa nodded. After all the other students had left, he beckoned Shinsou to sit in a desk closer to his desk.

"So, you have sleep problems." Aizawa stated bluntly. Shinsou shrugged.

"Yeah, I do. What about it?"

"What kind of problems are they? Chronic sleep disorder? Stressful home life?" Aizawa felt the 'Is there anything I should know about?' questions was inherent in the fact that he was asking.

"The first one." Shinsou explained, with the air of having done so numerous times before. "It's called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder. Long story short is that my body's rhythms are off compared to everyone else. I don't start getting sleepy till about 1 or 2 am, and want then want to get a full nights sleep. Not really an option when you have to get up for school, you know?"

Oh yeah. Aizawa knew.

"Considering you know the official name that must mean you've been officially diagnosed."

"Took them a while to pin it down, but yeah. Apparently some people stop being affected by it when they become adults, so I'm really hoping that happens."

"That would be ideal. Do you have ways to manage it in case it doesn't?"

"I take some meds for it."

"Do they help?"

"Well, I feel like I'm jet lagged most of the day, but I'm functional, so I guess so."

"I see. If that status changes let me know. I'll do what I can to help." Aizawa wasn't one to go easy on his students, but he knew full well how dangerous sleep deprivation could get if it went unchecked.

"Uh, okay. I will...thank you."

* * *

Friday: After History

Even after Aizawa gathered his things and went to the teachers lounge, Shinsou was still on his mind. Honestly, the conversation had been a nice change of pace. Too often when he tried to talk to students about something like that they tried to hide was wrong, or insisted that they didn't need any help. It was nice to talk to someone who wasn't ashamed to admit to having a problem and receiving assistance with it.

Aizawa was a little preoccupied with how surprised Shinsou had been at the offer of help. Maybe the kid figured Aizawa wasn't the type to care; he wouldn't be the first student to assume so.

"SHOTA!" An all too familiar voice shouted. Aizawa had just entered the lounge, and already there were arms wrapping around him from behind.

"Hisashi, we've talked about this." Aizawa said with a sigh.

"And I'm sure we'll talk about it again." Hisashi said cheerfully. He pulled out of the hug to stand in front of Aizawa.

"I wanted to congratulate you on having students who are willing to reach across the aisle." Hisashi said with a smile.

"What are going on about?"

"I've got a Gen Ed kid and Management kid who were talking about your class's battle trial like they had been there themselves. Figured they must be friends with kids in your class if they knew that many little details, and its not everyday that students make a point to hang out with other departments..."

Aizawa let Hisashi go on as he found his usual spot and set up his sleeping bag, might as well get some grading done while he was still conscious. Something Hisashi said caught his attention though.

"They said what?" Aizawa asked from his spot on the couch; Hisashi now sprawled out next to him.

"They were talking about using real people in hostage scenario training, because dummies can't panic or fight back like actual people might. Ambitious pair, huh?"

An idea started to percolate in the back of Aizawa's mind. There were trials and exams that involved volunteers pretending to be victims or hostages, to get the students used to working with real people. They usually didn't happen till later in the year though, and when they did it was all about assessing who needed the most help or keeping people calm. He began to wonder: How would his students react to a hostage that tried to fight back or escape on their own? Hmmm...

* * *

 **A.N.**

Sorry for the crazy amount of OCs in this chapter. I figured it was high time we got some insight into how the Management department works, and what kind of people go there. Then I also wanted to introduce some Gen Ed students, so it ended up being a lot for one chapter. If anyone thinks the Gen Ed students sound familiar, that is because I based them off the kids who talk to Shinsou after his fight at the Sports festival.

Also, I decided not to give class 1A a new member to make up for Izuku not being there. I thought about it for quite a while, but trying to establish a new person in the class, even from a distance, was making things overly complicated and distracting from the characters I wanted to focus on. So I decided that there just weren't any other applicants with a high enough score to get into the Hero department. Or alternatively, Aizawa really did expel someone that first day of class for having no potential. It doesn't really matter to the story, so you guys can decide which option you like better.


	9. Chapter 9

**A.N.**

I know it's been a while, but I have been anticipating this chapter for ages and I wanted to get it right and I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter of anything I have ever written so I hope that makes up for the wait.

* * *

"So what do you think it means?" Izuku asked, staring at his computer screen.

"It's a liability waiver, Midoriya. I'm pretty sure it means they want us to waive liability." Shinsou's voice was a little distorted over the phone, but the sarcasm came through loud and clear.

"Thanks, that really cleared things up." Izuku said, matching his friend's tone. "I meant why would the school suddenly send us one. Any ideas?"

"Dunno. Though, with what we hear from Uraraka and Iida, I'm surprised all students aren't asked to sign one."

"It's not that bad. The hero exercises are done far away from the main building, so it's not like someone is accidentally going to crash through a classroom window or anything."

It was Saturday, the first weekend since he'd started attending UA, and when he'd opened up his e-mail he'd found one from the school with a document attached. From what he could tell it was a combination of a liability waiver and a permission slip, which his mother would need to sign. If she did, the e-mail said he would be allowed to participate in 'an inter-department training exercise'.

Seeing that this event was 'inter-department', Izuku had naturally decided to call Shinsou to see if he had gotten one too. It didn't occur to Izuku that his friend might already be at work, not until the other boy actually picked up. When Izuku heard all the meows, barks, and tweets going on in the background he'd immediately offered to call back later, but Shinsou said he'd been about to go on break anyway.

"Maybe it's for the sports festival." Izuku proposed uncertainly. "That's coming up isn't it."

"Still weeks out though. Plus I'm pretty sure they would just call it 'The UA Sports Festival' if that's what it was about."

"Good point. I'm not sure what else it would be though."

"I guess we'll find out on Monday then."

"But I want to know **now**." Izuku complained.

"That's an unfortunate problem you have there." Shinsou replied, sounding like he was trying to resist smiling.

"Aren't you curious at all?" Izuku asked.

"Meh." Izuku could practically see Shinsou shrugging. "I am. Just not enough that I'm going to spend my whole weekend trying to figure it out."

Izuku hesitated too long in replying.

"That's exactly what you're going to do isn't it?" Shinsou asked.

"Maybe..."

Shinsou huffed, but still sounded amused when he spoke. "Well, I've gotta get back to work. Good luck with your new weekend project."

Izuku let out an exaggerated sigh, and was rewarded with catching a bit of Shinsou's laughter before the line went dead. Izuku now turned his full attention to the waiver, his eyes shinning with excited curiosity.

* * *

Just as predicted, Izuku spent the rest of his weekend trying to parse out what this 'training exercise' might be.

First he texted Uraraka and Iida. Neither of them had gotten a form referring to the exercise, or had heard anything about it from their teachers. They did both confirmed that their families had been sent a more generalized waiver at the start of the school year though, so it was probably standard for the hero course students. If UA felt the need to send a waiver for this training thing, then it could mean the Management and General departments were going to be doing something with the Hero department.

To make sure, Izuku had also called and talked to his homeroom group about it, and texted a couple of people from Shinsou's Gen Ed group. Apparently they had all received the same thing, and were pretty curious as well. None of them had any additional information though.

He tried looking up stuff on the school's website, but it didn't give specific enough details on what the hero course did, and there was no information that implied the different departments had any joint field trips.

The fact that Izuku could not give his mother any more details about what this trip would be was not encouraging to Inko. However, when she saw how curious and excited Izuku was about this 'training' she couldn't find it in her to deny him, and she signed the paper.

When Monday finally came, Izuku was so eager to finally get answers that he practically flew to school. Which meant he had to come to a very abrupt halt when he saw the large crowd of people surrounding the school's front gate. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on. All the adults there held either a camera or a microphone, and they kept pulling aside any kid they could and asking about All Might.

On the one hand, Izuku was impressed that the school had managed to keep All Might's teacher status low key enough that it took a week for the media to arrive. Izuku managed to get through mostly unscathed by repeating that he didn't have any classes with All Might, but he saw several hero course students struggling to navigate their way around people and out of conversations.

Uraraka was among them, and he thought about going back for her. Fortunately for him, Iida chose that moment to give a long winded speech which distracted a good number of reporters and allowed Uraraka and the others to escape.

"Does Iida get extra credit for saving you all from the clutches of the media?" Izuku asked when Uraraka caught up with him. She gave a breathy laugh.

"I certainly hope so. Aizawa really doesn't like the media, but I'm not sure if that means he'll be impressed he took the bullet or scold Iida for giving them too much to work with."

"Might not be as much as it looked. I only caught part of it, but it sounded like he was talking a lot without really saying much, you know?" Whether or not that had been intentional was up for debate.

Just then there was a loud clang that made them both whirl around. Iida was now halfway between them and the gate, but the gate had slammed shut, concealing the reporters on the other side. Ah, that's right, the gate wouldn't let anyone without a student or staff badge in. It was a smart design, and one Izuku found himself immensely appreciating now.

* * *

The first thing Ms. Kayama did during homeroom was announce that they would be choosing class representatives. Students immediately started vying for the position, but Ms. Kayama quickly assumed control of the situation. A sharp crack of her whip was enough to quiet the room, and then she commanded anyone interested in the position to stand up. Several students did, and Kure was among them. In Izuku's mind, it wasn't much of a contest. He knew Kure better than any of the others who had stood up, enough to know that she was very organized and could recover quickly from unexpected changes. So when Midnight passed out ballots he immediately put down her name.

Turned out Kure had made an impression on the majority of the class as well, because she was the one who got elected as class representative.

"Congratulations!" Izuku told her as she returned to her seat.

"Thank you!" she gushed "I'm so excited! My parents and uncle are going to be so proud when I tell them!"

"Do they work in hero management too?"

"My mom does, dad's an accountant, but not one that works for hero agency. My uncle's a hero though."

"He...he's an actual hero? Which one? You gotta tell me!"

Kure held a finger up to her lips, and Izuku immediately ducked down in his seat when he realized how loud he'd been getting. They glanced up at Ms. Kayama, but she wasn't looking at them.

"His hero name is Selkie. I'll tell you about it at the next group meeting." Kure promised, then returned her attention to the ongoing lesson. Izuku turned forward too, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to focus for a while.

* * *

"Seriously?" Izuku asked, staring at Uraraka and Iida. "Everyone in your class tried to vote for themselves as class rep?"

"Well, not everyone obviously, else we wouldn't have reached a consensus." Iida pointed out. "I was one of the few who voted for another classmate."

"And as a result he was one of the only ones to get zero." Uraraka said, patting his hand sympathetically. "I take it that's not what happened with your class?"

Izuku had joined Uraraka and Iida alone today. Shinsou had opted to sit with the other Gen Ed students, and had invited Izuku, but Izuku had wanted to see if the hero course kids had gotten any further information about their joint field trip.

"Yeah, ours was definitely more focused. I mean, there were a few people that seemed to vote for themselves, but not many. Which makes sense, when you think about it. It sounds like the hero course is all about making a name for yourself and standing out, so it would make sense for everyone to jump at the spotlight. The management course is more about learning how to do things like market others, delegate, and manage resources. So not everyone would be interested in the position and would vote for someone who they thought would do well instead. Shinsou made it sound like the Gen Ed class acted a more like yours', but they also have people hoping to get into the hero course, so they probably had a similar mindset-"

"Did Shinsou vote for himself then?" Uraraka asked, interrupting Izuku's theorizing.

"Huh? Oh, uh, no, he didn't. He said he voted for his friend Naya. She and her friend Obara ended up being his class reps."

"Strange, with him wanting to get into the hero course, I assumed Shinsou would be one of the ones attempting to make themselves stand out." Iida said. Izuku frowned.

"I guess that would make sense...but I honestly can't picture it. I don't think he likes speaking in front of large groups, and dealing with lots of people makes him tired." Which, when Izuku thought about it, were probably further reasons why Shinsou wanted to be an underground hero.

"I could kind of see him leading a class, but only if he does it from a sleeping back the way Mr. Aizawa does." Uraraka said with a giggle. The mental image Izuku got from that has him snorting into his drink, and Iida looked like he was trying hard not to be amused by a joke at his teacher's expense. "I'm glad Yaoyorozu pulled ahead in our class, because she's really smart and confident, so I'm sure she'll-"

That's when the school alarms suddenly started blaring.

* * *

Izuku never did get to ask if the hero students knew anything about the afternoon trip. But honestly, the way Iida got everyone to calm down after the alarms went off was so cool that he didn't even feel bad about it.

After the panic had died down, Izuku had been directed to meet up with his homeroom class. Others had made it there before him,

"You see?! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

including Tahara, who was ranting to anyone who would listen about how ridiculous the media was in their pursuit of celebrity heroes. Izuku couldn't help but agree. He was all for freedom of speech, but the journalists should have known better than to trespass just to get a quote about All Might teaching.

WHA-PSSH!

Everyone fell silent at the sound of Midnight cracking her whip. She stood at the front of the classroom, now in her hero costume, and addressed the class.

"Just because we got some pushy media on our hands doesn't mean we cancel trips or training, so everyone get yourselves sorted and pass up your permission slips."

Once everyone had proven they had permission to participate, class 1-J was herded into the hall and out of the building. Once they were outdoors, Izuku saw another group of students, which he quickly deduced to be class 1-C based on the presence of Shinsou and his friends. He could even see Imari and Wakiya further up. Given that both groups were heading the same direction, it wasn't hard for Izuku to break ranks and join up with Shinsou.

"Have they told you guys anything yet?" Izuku asked, Shinsou shook his head. Izuku sighed and resolved himself to waiting just a little bit longer.

"Is this really how big your class is?" Izuku asked, noticing there weren't nearly as many Gen Ed students gathered as their were Management students.

"Nah, there's usually more people." Shinsou replied.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure our department has the most students compared to the others." Naya spoke up. "But a bunch of people had to stay behind because they didn't get permission. Didn't that happen to anyone in your class?" She asked incredulously. Izuku shook his head.

"No, everyone in mine had a signed slip."

"Dang, Management kids and their families must be really curious. I had to fight to get my parents to agree to something so vague." Yamoto said.

"Maybe." Izuku said. "But it's probably more to do with wanting to get ahead by seeing potential future heroes in action. After all, the more you know about something the easier it is to market it to different groups."

"Spoken like a true Management student!" Niikura said with a laugh.

Small talk continued as the two groups were lead toward distant buildings. Midnight lead one group, and the other was lead by a man in a cowboy costume and face mask that Izuku recognized the pro hero Snipe, which resulted in some time passing with Midoriya pouring out facts about the sharp shooting hero.

"This looks like the area I went to for the hero course practical." Shinsou eventually noted, which got Izuku all the more excited. But instead of being lead straight into the fake city the two groups were lead into a long building just outside of it. The space inside was big and empty, save for the presence of two people.

Eraserhead stood with his usual slouch and tired eyes, while Present Mic bounced on his feet like a kid waiting in line at an amusement park.

"How many did we get?" Aizawa asked when Midnight and Snipe went up to him. They hand him the slips, and he counts them, then nods. "We've got more than enough here, which is fortunate because Ectoplasm sent a message that they could use a few more for class 1-B."

Aizawa pulled out a few of the slips, and handed them back to Midnight and Snipe. Each teacher called the names on the slips, and those student hesitantly came forward.

"Alright listeners! Let's get you to your proper venue!" Present Mic declared. In a flash the pro was leading the students out of the building.

"Let's get this show on the road." Aizawa said as soon as Mic left.

"You aren't gonna wait for him?" Midnight asked with a raised brow.

"He knows what's going on." Aizawa said dismissively. Midnight sighed, and turned to address the students.

"Today you will all be participating in a training exercise for the Hero course students. But just because it is mainly for the benefit of the Hero course does not mean that you all won't be graded on the effort and creativity you put into your roles. What role is that you may ask?" Midnight's eyes glinted in with excitement. "Hostages."

The students around Izuku started murmuring to each other, a mixture of confusion and intrigue. Izuku immediately remembered the conversation he'd had with Shinsou last Friday, and glanced at his friend. Shinsou was looking at him too. They both turned their attention to the front when Snipe spoke up.

"Of course, we could use dummies for something like that, but this is UA. We always go above and beyond! Plus, guarding things is way different than guarding living, breathing people. I know everyone likes to think they'd react the right way when a major villain attack happens, but the simple truth is that not everyone does. People will panic, or cry, or lash out, instead of staying calm and letting the heroes handle things."

"A hero needs to be prepared for that." Aizawa stated. "They need be expect the unexpected, and be just as good at handling people as handling villains. So your role in this exercise is essentially the 'wild card'. You will each be assigned a partner, who you will be a hostage with. Once you have your partner, I suggest the two of you get together and decide how you want to handle your role."

Names were called once again, and the murmuring started anew, only now it was pure excitement. Izuku crossed his fingers, and hoped he'd get paired up with one person in particular.

* * *

Further into the replica city, All Might was explaining the exercise to Class 1-A.

"For this trial, one student will be assigned to be the hero, trying to rescue the hostages, and there will be two students as villains trying to keep the hero from the hostages."

"Mr. All Might, isn't this exercise too similar to the combat training to be of much use to us so soon after the last trial?" Iida asked, his hand raised high in the air.

"There is a great difference here Iida!" All Might declared. "In the combat trial you focused solely on that, combat. You were able to focus exclusively on your opponents, and thwarting their goals. But once civilians come into the picture, things change. You should try to defeat the villains, of course, but your top priority is the civilians. You must ensure that they remain unharmed, even if it means letting the villains get away."

"Of course! Learning the basics of civilian interaction now will no doubt benefit us in the future. An excellent point sir!"

"Sir." Yoayorozu raised her hand, and All Might acknowledged her. "May I ask why we are not being allowed to view our classmates interactions in real time as we did with the combat trial."

"Ah yes, that will make the waiting time rather boring for you all. However, Aizawa and I decided that it would be most telling if we saw everyone's first instincts when it came to the civilians, so we will know how best to address your preconceptions in the future."

Yoayorozu accepted this explanation, as did the rest of the class. Of course, as Aizawa had discussed with All Might and Blood King, Class 1-A and 1-B were not explicitly told how the hostages were instructed to act out. The Hero course kids only knew that the students acting as hostages were also first years, and that the hostages knew this was just an exercise.

And surely, if the hostages know it's just an exercises, then they wouldn't need to worry about them too much, right?

* * *

"WAAAAHHHHH!"

 **Trial 1: Okabe and Yamoto- Quirks: Shadow Webs and Protected Senses**

 **Villains: Jirou and Ashido, Hero: Tsuyu**

"I'm too young to die!" Okabe wailed. She was in the middle of an empty room with her hands tied behind her back. Yamoto was in the same position, his back against hers.

"Please sister, be quiet! We don't want to anger our guard." Yamoto said in thier best soothing voice. Yamoto, with their ability to mess with his own senses, was able to dial down their own perception of Okabe wailing in order to be more comfortable. The guard was not fairing nearly as well.

"Yes, please, listen to your 'sibling' and shut up." Jirou growled, rubbing her temples. The two hostages had arrived with just enough time to get introductions before the exercise started. Jirou's pink skinned friend, Ashido, had run off as soon as the buzzer had went off.

Just as the two hostages had.

"I'm so sorry! Please, please, don't hurt her!" Yamoto begged dramatically.

Jirou sighed, she was beginning to regret letting Ashido be the one to go on the offensive. They hadn't been given any keys for the building, only zip ties to use on the hostages. Neither of their quirks allowed them to block the door, so someone had to stay and make sure the hostages didn't get away. They decided that Ashido should go fight their opponent while Jirou stood guard. It made sense, given that Jirou's quirk would allow her to tell if Tsuyu was closing in on their location, so Jirou had readily agreed. But that was before she knew how annoyingly into role playing these two were.

"She cries one more time and your 'sister' will get my sock shoved in her mouth. I won't allow her to broadcast our location any longer." Jirou crossed her arms and glared down the pair.

"O-of course! Uh, sis! Is there anything that would help you while we, uh, wait?" Yamoto craned their neck over their shoulder to look at Okabe, who made a show of sniffling.

"Well...maybe if the tie was loosened? It's making my wrists hurt..."

"You seriously think I'm gonna cut the zip tie just like that?" Jirou said, raising an eyebrow.

"You could put another one on before taking the first one off, she'd never be free at any point." Yamoto said. Jirou let out her biggest sigh yet, but knelt down.

"Fine, if it'll get you to shut up." Jirou grabbed another zip tie out of her pocket, and started to put it around Okabe's wrists. Suddenly, Jirou felt something slimy touch her fingers. She instinctively reeled back, only to find that her fingers were covered in dark strings.

"What the-yuck!" She tried to brush them off, but they were so sticky she couldn't remove them, and now her hands were stuck together.

While Jirou was distracted, Yamoto used Okabe's back as leverage to push himself onto his feet. Jirou finally stopped messing with her hands when she saw him stand and rush for the door.

"Oh no you don't!" She yelled. She quickly extended her headphone jack's to the speakers on her legs, and blasted him with a sonic wave.

Which, apparently, did absolutely nothing.

 _'The hell?'_ Jirou thought. Yamoto showed no signs of the sound affecting them as they turned around and tried to open the door with their tied hands. Jirou shook it off and ran at them, figuring she could knock them over if nothing else.

She took two steps, and just barely kept her face from smashing into the floor.

Once the shock of that wore off, she twisted around and saw that Okabe had flung her own legs out to trip her, and that there were more sticky black strings extending up her legs at the point of contact.

"Go Yamoto! Save yourself!" Okabe yelled. Jirou turned her head just enough to see that the other hostage had managed to open the door and run out.

 _'Damn!'_ Jirou thought, growling in frustration. Her hands were still stuck together, but she managed to press her hand to her comm and let Ashido know one of the hostages had escaped. Jirou looked back at Okabe, expecting her to start wailing again. Instead, she just looked satisfied.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, can I ask about your costume?" the girl asked "It's just that is kinda nondescript right now, aside from the speakers on your legs. Have you considered making a logo for yourself? You could put it on the back of your jacket or something if you don't want to change the look too much. It could really help with merchandising when you go pro."

Jirou's eye twitched.

Elsewhere, Yamoto ran through the building, trying to find the exit. They forgot to turn their hearing back up to the proper levels though, which caused them to narrowly avoid a fistful of acid that had been aimed at a frog girl sticking to the wall. Before he had time to fully process that, something wrapped around his waist and yanked him into the air.

"Don't worry, kero, I won't let her get you!"

The rest of the exercise time was taken up by Ashido chasing after Tsuyu as she tried to exit the building, Yamoto yelling as he was jerked through the air.

* * *

Back in the observation building, Izuku, Shinsou, and the others were watching the first exercise wrap up.

"You know, it's probably a good thing for Okabe that she managed to get speaker girl's legs." Shinsou commented. "I'm pretty sure if she had been able to move more, she would have stuff her foot into Okabe's mouth by the end."

Izuku got a mental picture of Jirou wiggling out of her boots just so she could make good on her sock threat in the last moments of the trial, and couldn't help laughing.

"My ears are gonna be ringing for a week!" Okabe complained as she and Yamoto re-entered the building.

"Well maybe it wouldn't be so bad if you'd taken the hint after she blasted you the first time." Yamoto replied.

"I was just trying the help!"

Midnight ushered them further inside, and congratulated them on their wonderful play acting, before she picked which team would be going next.

* * *

 **Trial 2: Toujou and Kure- Quirks: Glow light and Seal**

 **Villains: Sato and Ojiro, Hero: Hagakure**

"Your name was Sato, right? Can I ask how your quirk works?" Kure asked from her place on the ground.

Sato gave the girl a quizzical look. "Why do you ask?"

Both of the 'hostages' were sitting against the wall, their hands and their feet zip tied together. If Sato and Ojiro had been facing anyone else they wouldn't have bothered having someone in the room to keep watch, but they were facing someone who could turn completely invisible. Even if the hostages couldn't really move, they didn't want to risk Hagakure sneaking past and freeing them. So Sato stayed and kept the hostages company while Ojiro guarded from the other side of the door and did occasional sweeps to see if he could hear her coming.

"Well, I figured we might be here a while, so we might as well find a way to pass the time. My main focus in class is on how to use the newest technology to improve the way hero agencies are run, but it's better to have skills in more than just one area. So I thought I'd ask about your quirk and then brainstorm on ways to market it, since a big part of any agency job is knowing how to appeal to the public." Kure explained calmly, her only show of discomfort being the way she kept shifting her position. Toujou sat still and said nothing, aside from occasionally shifting his gaze from Kure to Sato.

"I guess that makes sense." Sato replied. Maybe he should have been focusing on keeping a lookout, but Hagakure would have to open the door to get in the room, and it would be pretty hard not to miss that whether he was paying attention or not. "My quirk is called Sugar Rush, which basically means that I can increase my strength by eating sugar."

"I see." Kure nodded thoughtfully, still shifting now and then. "Honestly, you probably won't need much help in the marketing department. If you manage to get even marginally popular you'll probably have candy and baking companies begging for endorsements from you."

"You really think so?" Sato asked, looking hopeful. "Well, what about if I wanted to start a line of baked goods myself?"

"You want to be a pro hero and run a baking company? That's pretty ambitious."

"Well, my family is already in that business, and I'm not currently in line to take over, but I've been doing my own baking since I was little, so I've always thought of having my own product line within the company."

"Then I'd say that sounds like the perfect opportunity. If you play your cards right, then you could become the face of the company one day, and the public would clamor for a product a pro hero had a personal hand in. Do you have your own recipes and everything?"

Sato was about to reply, but stopped when he heard a soft 'snap' echo through the room. Kure grimaced.

"What was that?" He asked, eyes narrowing at her in suspicion.

Suddenly, a light appeared right in front of Sato's face. He jumped back, but nothing happened. The little ball of light just hovered in place in front of his face.

But then there was another 'snap' and suddenly Kure's shoulder rammed into his stomach. Sato grunted and stumbled back, but he didn't fall. She leaped at him again, but this time he saw her coming. He grabbed her arm and spun her around so her back was to him, then quickly wrapped his arms around her waist. When he was done, her arms were pinned to her sides and she herself was pinned to his chest, her feet dangling several inches off the floor.

The door swung open, and Sato whirled around to look at it, intent on seeing any sign of Hagakure, but Ojiro was the one standing in the doorway. His tail whipped back and forth, subconsciously displaying his confusion at why Sato was backwards hugging one of their struggling hostages.

"Are you okay?" he asked his partner.

"Peachy." Sato said with a huff. She had to shift his grip to keep a hold on Kure, but after a few more seconds she gave up.

"Well, it was worth a shot. Thanks for your assistance, Toujou." She called to the other boy.

"No problem." He said. "Though it would have been nice if you could have gotten me free too."

"The light wouldn't distract him long; I had to take action." She justified, then looked over her shoulder at Sato. "Sorry about driving my shoulder into your gut."

"So all that stuff you said was just to distract me? Or were you actually trying to give me advice?" Sato demanded.

"Why can't it be both?" she asked with a smile. After a moment, he smiled back.

"What the-hmph!"

The sudden cry from Toujou had everyone looking at him. His face was screwed up in a weird way, and, upon closer inspection, the angle he was leaning shouldn't have been possible. Unless something was supporting him.

Ojiro's eyes narrowed. "Hagakure!"

He quickly slammed the door behind him and ran toward Toujou. The boy was dropped to the floor, and Ojiro spent a couple minutes leaping at air before he managed to tackle his invisible classmate. He put capture tape around...some part of her body, and the exercise ended.

* * *

"I didn't realize your claws were sharp enough to cut through things like that." Izuku commented once the pair had rejoined them.

"They aren't that sharp really, I'd ruin my computers keyboard if they were, but the tie was tight enough that getting it at just the right angle managed to snap it."

Meanwhile, Shinsou and his friends was congratulating Toujou on finally having a new story to tell.

* * *

 **Tiral 3: Niikura and Naya, Quirks: Emotion Banishment and Fantasy Imprisonment**

 **Villains: Bakugo and Shoji, Hero- Iida**

"Get these two tied up and meet me outside. You're gonna tell me exactly where Glasses is so I can go blow him up." Bakugo told his partner. Shoji gave him an unimpressed look, though it was hard to tell with the way his hair draped over his face.

"Don't I get any say in the plan?" he asked, his front arms folding. One of the 'hostages', the girl, was standing behind Bakugo, staring at him. He did his best to ignore it. He figured she was just surprised by his appearance. There were certainly stranger mutant type quirks than his own, but that hadn't stopped people from staring now and then.

"If you've got a better one then lay it on me." Bakugo challenged. "If not, then do what I said so we can get on with messing up Glasses."

"Hey man." The red haired boy interrupted. "No need to be like that; I'm sure your buddy just wants to give you guys the best chance at winning."

"I'm always the best chance." Bakugo said arrogantly.

"Geez," the boy sighed, laying a hand on Bakugo's exposed shoulder. "you gotta learn to chill."

Bakugo immediately smacked the hand away and whirled around, but then he suddenly stopped. His spine straightened and his hands fell to his sides.

"Don't touch me." Bakugo said. Said, not shouted, Shoji noted. Until just now, he hadn't realized Bakugo was capable of doing an 'indoor voice', or of sounding so calm.

"Sorry." The redhead replied with a smile. Bakugo didn't comment on that, and instead turned toward the door.

"Meet me outside to plan when you're done." He said, maintaining the strangely calm tone. When the door closed behind him, Shoji turned to the readhead with narrowed eyes. The brunette moved so she would still be standing in front of Shoji. He wanted to know what was up with her, but he needed an answer first.

"What did you do to Bakugo?" Shoji demanded.

"I used my quirk on him." The boy said casually. "Normally I ask permission, but considering the way he was acting, I figured you wouldn't mind me toning down his anger."

Shoji felt like he should have protested, maybe even scolded the other boy, but he honestly was looking forward to talking to Bakugo without being yelled at.

"Just remember to undo it once this is over." Shoji warned. "and when you do, make sure you are either far away or have witnesses."

The boy laughed while Shoji pulled out some zip ties. "Alright, lets get this over with."

"Mind if we get some introductions first?" The girl asked stepping forward. She looked right into his eyes and held out her hand. "My name is Naya, and this is Niikura, it's nice to meet you."

After seeing the change Bakugo went through by being touched by Niikura, Shoji hesitated to take Naya's hand.

"I'm Shoji. Why were you...um...you were..." Shoji's head was suddenly feeling foggy.

"Yes?" Naya prompted. She stepped closer, still staring into his eyes, but he couldn't quite focus on her. It suddenly seemed sunnier than before, and the room felt larger. No, was he even in a room? He felt like he was outside. There was grass under his feet instead of a floor, and trees were all around. It was a playground, the one closest to his house. There were kids playing all around him, and some called for him to join them. He didn't think twice before he ran to them.

* * *

"I can't believe this, but I never asked about Naya's quirk." Izuku said. He turned to Shinsou. "Do you know what it is? What is she doing, staring at him like that?"

"Naya's quirk is kind of similar to mine." Shinsou said slowly. "It's called Fantasy Imprisonment, and it basically allows her to trap people in a daydream or a happy memory."

"Really? Wow, that...that sounds like it could be really powerful." Izuku said, looking at the screen in awe.

"Yeah, it could, but there's certain things she has to do to make it work, which she said makes it inefficient."

"Inefficient? How?"

"I don't remember the exact details." Shinsou said with a shrug. "Something about needing a certain amount of eye contact over a length of time, and needing to maintain eye contact to keep the fantasy going."

"I see...I guess that would hinder any heroic ability to use it. Hardly any villain would stay still long enough to just let a hero look in their eyes, but Naya managed to get a head start here because of them talking and not actually thinking she'd do something to them. I suppose maybe she could work strictly as hero support, or even police support to help transport violent villains without manpower or sedatives to-" several people made shushing noises. Izuku blushed and stopped muttering. Shinsou patted him on the back.

* * *

Bakugo waited outside the door. He recognized that it had been a while since he'd told Shoji to finish securing the hostages, but he didn't feel impatient. He didn't feel anything really. He knew there were things he wanted, of course. He wanted to do well on this exercise, which meant either defeating the 'hero' or keeping the hostages secure. He was standing in front of the only entrance to where the hostages were, so that kept them secure until Shoji finished or Glasses arrived.

 _Zoom-screech!_

"Ah ha! I have found you villain! Release the hostages and you shall remain unharmed!" Glasses stood at the end of the hallway, surrounded by a cloud of his own exhaust.

Bakugo turned to face him and got into a fighting stance. "I'm not going to do that."

Glasses seemed confused, but he didn't let that stop him for long.

"Then I shall force your hand!"

Glasses was suddenly coming at him. Bakugo ran to meet him.

* * *

Naya almost looked away from Shoji's eyes when an explosion sounded outside the door.

"Can you see what's going on out there?" she asked. Niikura carefully approached the door and eased it open. He left it open as he came back to her.

"Bakugo and an armored guy are going at it just a little ways down the hall. I really don't want to stay near them, should we tie this guy up and make a run for it?"

With muscles like those, Naya honestly wondered if the zip ties would actually hold him. Still, it was a better option than trying to walk Shoji down with her and hoping she didn't get distracted by the fight.

"Worth a shot."

They maneuvered Shoji so he was sitting down facing the door, and Niikura dug out multiple zip ties and put them around the boy's ankles and main wrists, all while Naya's eyes burned and Shoji kept that dazed look. When Niikura was finished they slowly backed towards the door.

"Three, two one, now!" Niikura said. Naya turned and ran out the door with him. The moment she turned away Shoji's eyes came back into focus.

"What the-hey!" they were already out the door though. Explosions were still going off but they didn't stop to look, just ran in the opposite direction. They were almost at the end of the hallway-

"THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"

When Shoji had realized that he couldn't break the ties, he instead morphed each of his shifting appendages into a mouth so they could shout in unison. The resulting warning was loud enough to break through to the fighting pair, and they turned to see the hostages at the end of the hall.

Naya and Niikura ran. Bakugo let his blasts carry him down the hall, but even then he wasn't fast enough. Iida pulled ahead of him and blocked his path.

"Run citizens! I will stop him!"

And he did. It was a struggle, even with Bakugo acting less aggressively than usual, but Iida managed to get the capture tape wrapped around Bakugo's arm. Then he went back to the room and did the same to Shoji for good measure, which happened right about the time that Naya and Niikura stumbled out of the building.

* * *

"Did you stop your quirk's effects on Bakugo before you left?" Izuku asked.

"Nah, I didn't want to be around when all his emotions came back." Niikura said."I'll let it wear off on its own. It takes about an hour, so there will be teachers and stuff around to handle the fallout."

Izuku certainly hoped so. While he talked with Niikura, he saw that Obara and Tahara were the pair being called forward next.

"I can't believe I missed two." Izuku said. At Niikura's confused look, he clarified. "I never got around to asking what Obara's quirk is."

"Obara? It's something to do with crystals, I think. Like, he can use his mind to move stuff made of crystal, and change the shape of crystals and stuff. He likes to use it to make sculptures. He showed me pics of some of his stuff, I think he's pretty good."

"Really? Did he send you any? Can I see them?"

* * *

 **Trial 4: Obara and Tahara- Quirks- Crystal Manipulation and Mist Generation**

 **Villains: Kaminari and Sero, Hero: Todoroki**

Todoroki was both annoyed and mildly impressed that Sero was able to generate this much tape in the little prep time that they'd had. It was less that the door in front of him was so completely covered, but that this was one of several doors being sealed.

He'd been able to take care of Kaminari and Sero pretty quickly, despite them already having seen what he did during the last exercise. He had to freeze Kaminari twice, the second time being when the boy had wriggled out of his shoes. Sero had been harder to catch because he kept sweeping himself off the floor by latching his tape onto something, but it was only a matter of time before he slipped and Todoroki captured him.

He'd tried to get them to tell him where the hostages were, but neither boy would. So he'd gone searching on his own. He thought the first door he found would be it, but it was empty. After finding a few more, he realized Sero had set up decoy doors.

Still, it didn't take him long to work his way through them. Sero's tape became brittle when it froze, and he was easily able to tear it off after a few moments. Which is what he did with this door.

His annoyance morphed into confusion when he opened the door and found that the room was filled with a thick gray mist.

"Hello?" he tried. No response.

He stuck his hand out to feel the air. It felt like regular water based mist, and didn't smell like anything dangerous, so he stepped inside. The mist swirled around him.

"Is anyone-"

There were footsteps and a sudden breeze passed by him. He quickly ran out and saw to people running down the hall, completely unhindered. Had they not been tied up at all? That was foolish.

Todoroki sent out a wave of ice, thinner than what he'd used against the 'villains' earlier. It was still enough to freeze their shoes to the floor though.

"What are you running for? I'm not-" Something flew at his face, and Todoroki had to make an ice shaft to block it. Something clattered to the floor. He stepped around to the other side, and picked up the only thing it could have been, a necklace with a clear crystal pendant.

Todoroki walked up to the stuck pair, and crossed his arms.

"I'm the hero coming to save you, why did you run?" He demanded.

"Oh...you're a hero?" the dark skinned girl asked. "I made a bunch of mist to hide us in case the villains came back. We couldn't see you, so we just assumed you were with the bad guys. You should have said something when you came inside."

Todoroki frowned, but couldn't deny the logic. If this had been a real life situation, he should have said who he was for their benefit. Even police officers did that.

"'You've got a point." He admitted. Then he held up the necklace. "I assume this belongs to one of you?"

The brunette boy held up his hand, smiling sheepishly.

* * *

"I'm kind of surprised you didn't try to use your quirk on the ice itself." Izuku said.

"Not all ice forms into crystals." Shinsou pointed out.

"Well, no, but I figured some of it would."

"By the time I thought of that we'd already been officially rescued and the exercise was over." Obara said with a shrug.

"You guys still did pretty great. That necklace came in handy huh? It cut through the tape really well after you used your quirk on it." Izuku praised.

"That's why I always have it on me." Obara said happily.

"I'll have to be more careful around you." Shinsou said with a smirk. "You went right for the face with that last attack; talk about vicious." Obara's own smile turned devious.

* * *

 **Trial 5: Wakiya and Imari- Quirks- Hammer space and Fissure Creation**

 **Villains: Kirishima and Kouda, Hero: Uraraka**

"Are you ready?" Wakiya whispered.

"As I'll ever be." Imari replied.

Imari and Wakiya had been tied up in the room and left to their own devices. However, from what they overheard from their two 'captors' they knew that one of them had stayed to guard the door and the other had gone to distract the 'hero'. Since there was no one watching them, it had been easy for Wakiya to access her Hammerspace and get a pair of scissors. The zip ties didn't last long against that.

Now, Wakiya was positioned just beside the door, wielding a frying pan. Why she felt the need to carry one around with her everywhere, Imari didn't know. He just figured she carried anything and everything she might need in there because, well, she could. Imari was crouching in the center of the room with his hands pressed to the floor. At Wakiya's signal, he activated his quirk, and a large crack appeared in the floor.

Naturally, that made a lot of noise, which of course prompted the guard to open the door and check on them. The moment he stepped in Wakiya brought the pan down on top the boy's head.

The redhead barely flinched.

Upon looking at him more closely, Imari noticed that the boy's skin looked like it had changed into some kind of rock. A curious part of Imari wondered if he might be able to tell what kind by getting a skin sample. A darker, more fearful, part made a new rule never to activate his own quirk while this guy was around.

The boy rubbed the top of his head and turned to Wakiya, who looked dumbfounded.

"So, I'm guessing this means you guys aren't actually in any trouble." The boy surmised.

"Um, no, we're fine, I...I just...I thought that would work better." Wakiya explained nervously. The boy just grinned at her.

"No problem! You guys were probably told to try and escape on your own or something, right? In that case, it wasn't a bad attempt. If I hadn't activated by quirk when I came to check on you, that blow would have hurt a lot more." He said enthusiastically. He then turned to Imari. "Awesome job with the distraction too. I didn't know the General course had any powerhouses in it, I'll have to watch out for that."

"Uh, thanks." Imari said. "But if our escape attempt is done, we should maybe move to a different room. This one's become unstable."

The boy looked down at the crack in the floor and nodded. "Good point, let's move a few doors down."

Imari carefully made his way to the door while the boy, Kirishima, introduced himself. They gave their own names too. They were just about to step out of the room when-

"Hyaaaaa!" a female voice cried out. A second later a brown haired girl went zooming by the room. Well, maybe flying would be the better word considering her speed was due to a pigeon.

The girl was holding onto the pigeon's feet while it flapped down the hall, dragging the girl with it like she weighed nothing at all. A few more seconds went by, and a boy in a yellow and red hero outfit ran past the door, looking frantic.

The three of them all poked their heads out of the room to watch the strange scene travel down the hall, and listen the girl's whoops of excitement.

"So," Kirishima started "we could go hold up in another room, or we could follow them and see how that ends."

To them, the choice was obvious.

* * *

Shinsou and Izuku were still laughing when Wakiya and Imari returned, as were plenty of other people. They were so distracted by it that they didn't have time to give Wakiya and Imari any grief about getting caught so easily, and almost missed it when their own names were called.

* * *

 **Trial 6: Shinsou and Izuku**

 **Villains: Mineta and Tokoyami, Heroes: Yaoyorozu and Aoyama**

"For the last time, Mineta, you have to fight Aoyama because Dark Shadow will be weaker against the light from his beam attacks."

"But I was looking forward to fighting Yaoyorozu." Mineta whined.

"That's irrelevent." Tokoyami declared. "We may tag team if the option is available, but if it isn't then our individual opponents are clear."

"But I won't be able to watch her run around that way!"

If he were anyone else, Tokoyami would have let out a long suffering sigh. But he had pride and patience, traits gathered from learning to reign in Dark Shadow. So instead he glowered at Mineta, ominously.

"Okay! Okay fine, I know your plan is the better one. Just let me finish getting to door secured and I'll meet you on the stairs."

Tokoyami nodded and turned, already feeling he'd spent too much time with this particular classmate.

Mineta started to close the door, intending to stick it shut with his quirk.

"Hey, kid."

There were two hostages in the room, both with fluffy hair though one was purple and the other green. Mineta had noticed how Uraraka and Iida sometimes sat with these two in the lunch room, but he'd never heard much about them beyond which departments they were in and that Uraraka had apparently met the green haired kid before school started.

"Can I ask you something before you go?" The purple haired kid continued.

"What is it?" Mineta asked. Then his face went blank.

* * *

With Mineta's help, Shinsou and Izuku were able to break the zip ties. Turned out the short boy kept a couple of useful objects stored in that diaper thing. Izuku was glad it had some kind of practical purpose, because he certainly couldn't see an aesthetic one.

"You will stay here for the rest of the exercise." Shinsou commanded. "And if your partner calls asking where you are or for help, or calls you for anything over the comm, tell him you're on your way."

"Shinsou, don't forget the...hair sphere thing." Izuku reminded. He'd just finished using zip ties to secure the boy's hands and feet.

"Oh yeah. Give us one of your hair spheres."

Mineta mechanically took a ball off the top of his head and held it out to them. Izuku untied Mineta's scarf and used it to take the ball without touching it.

And then they were off.

Izuku and Shinsou had talked about their plan between each person's session, learning from each one as they went. One of the things they noticed is that all other hostage groups had tried to go down to find an exit, and always ran into the other participants. So they would go up instead.

Both boys couldn't help grinning as they made their way up to the roof. This had played right into their hands, allowing them to escape right out from under everyone else's nose. It was a heady feeling.

The roof wasn't locked, thankfully. Shinsou quickly shut the door behind them and Izuku carefully wedged the sphere against the door and the frame, effectively locking it behind them.

"I'm pretty sure that's all we need to do." Shinsou noted, panting, but still grinning.

"Maybe, but I didn't come all this way to settle for good enough." Izuku said, matching his expression.

Only one other hostage pair had managed to make it out of the building. Shinsou and Izuku planned to escape even more thoroughly than them.

Though, the gap between the two buildings looked a lot bigger on the roof than it did on the ground. Still, the other building was a bit shorter than this one, so that would compensate for it, right?

"You sure you wanna do this?" Shinsou asked, looking down at the ground, smile no longer on his face. His fists were clenched, from fear or determination, Izuku wasn't sure.

"We can do it." Izuku said confidently, backing up a ways. "I'll go first."

Shinsou nodded, then smirked. "Go beyond."

"Plus Ultra!" Izuku shouted, running forward. He pumped his legs for all they were worth, stepped up, and launched himself forward.

His feet hit concrete after just a couple seconds, and his legs collapsed under him. He grunted him pain as he rolled across the rooftop. He got up as soon as he stopped moving, his body sore but unbroken. He'd made it to the lower roof with plenty of space to spare.

"I'm okay!" He shouted up. "You ready?"

No response.

"Shinsou?"

Suddenly Shinsou was at the edge and throwing himself toward the roof, right toward Izuku. He stood and ran forward, thinking he might be able to catch his friend before he started rolling, but instead Shinsou collided with him. Next thing Izuku knew he was on his back again, his limbs now tangled with Shinsou's. The other boy's violet eyes opened and looked into his own. They stayed like that for a moment, reveling in the fact that they had both made it. Then they both started laughing.

The release of the adrenaline high combined with a great amount of relief had them in fits for a while. But eventually, they managed to quiet down to occasional chuckles. They rolled away from each other, just enough to not be laying on each other, and stared up at the sky.

"We're gonna go down in history." Shinsou said. "The only two non Hero course students crazy enough to jump off of a building."

"Word of our deed shall spread through the student body. Kids will hear about it, tell their parents, maybe it will even get people watching us more during the sports festival. It'll be great publicity for you. You'll be a shoe in for the hero course once they see the pattern of your skill and daring shine forth." Izuku said with a giggle. Shinsou snorted.

"You're so weird Midoriya." Shinsou said. Izuku noticed something about the way he said that, like all the levity was suddenly gone.

"What do you mean?" Worry leaked into his voice.

"I mean no one else says stuff like that, not about me. No one else is so insistent I'll get into the hero course, even my own parents sound doubtful sometimes."

Izuku was reminded of the days before his dad's death, the days when he was still blissfully unaware of his own quirk and he still proclaimed his desire to be a hero. His Mom had tried to be encouraging, but he could imagine what Shinsou's own parents must have sounded like.

"But you've got an amazing quirk for hero work." Izuku protested. "Why wouldn't people think you could be a hero?"

"That's another reason why your weird. Most people don't see it that way. All my life I've been told my quirk is best suited for a villain." Izuku hadn't heard him sound that bitter since the first day of class. "Whenever I told people about it, they would always lead with asking me not to use it on them. Always assuming I'd have bad intentions from the start."

"That's ridiculous." Izuku said fiercely. "Why are people always so ridiculous and...and shortsighted? In a world like ours, a world of quirks, anyone could use their power for evil if they tried hard enough. Even the people in the hero course here. Yaoyorozu down there, I'll bet she could use hers to make high powered weapons and sell them, if she wanted to. Uraraka could make people float off into space, or let them smack down once they were high enough. I'll bet Iida could pull off some impressive robberies with his speed. The important thing is that they choose to be heroes instead."

Izuku wondered, if people knew about his quirk, would they judge him the same way they did with Shinsou? Of course, the difference was that Izuku had already done something villainous with his. He'd never seen Shinsou use his quirk for anything bad, and didn't think he'd have done so in the past either. He did wonder though, in this society, would it be easier to be seen as villainous or as quirkless...

"You know, I honestly expected to hate Iida when I first met him." Shinsou confessed. "He had a great quirk, and a family that was already in the hero business, so much privilege...I expected him to look down on me like everyone else had. But he didn't. He listened when I said the entrance exam was unfair, and he even admitted my quirk was useful. Uraraka was like that too, and my friends in General Studies. Maybe it's something about UA itself."

"That may be true." Izuku mused. "After I was declared quirkless, everything seemed to change. All the kids at school suddenly started to hate me or ignore me. Even the ones I knew forever...and the teachers got in on it too. Well, not the hating so much, but definitely the ignoring. And they always assumed I'd be less competent at things too, no matter what my grades said. Even here, I can't help but wonder if I got put into the largest group for our class projects because Midnight assumed I wouldn't contribute as much."

"She'd have to be dumb to think that." Shinsou said, just as fierce as Izuku had been. "And it doesn't matter what your old teachers or anything thought. You got into UA, so you've already showed them how wrong they were."

"And you will too, as soon as you get into the hero course. And I promise, I'll support you however I can."

"Yeah, we'll prove them wrong together."

All Might ended up being the one to go up to the rooftop and tell them the exercise was over. Shinsou was too busy looking at All Might in awe to protest when the hero grabbed each boy in one arm and jumped down to the ground. He was still trying to slow his heart down when the number one hero sped off, leaving them to meet up with Present Mic on their own.

Shinsou watched Izuku as the two of them went to rejoin their class. He thought about that rooftop, and the promise that had been made. Silently, he made the same one to Izuku.

* * *

 **A.N.**

I know people were expecting this to be incorporated into the USJ incident, but I'd been thinking about this chapter before I realized where it would end up in the canon timeline and I got really attached to how certain bits would go and didn't want them interrupted by a villain attack.

 _Sigh_ , Iida just can't get anyone to role play with him properly.

I have no idea what Sato's family does, but I figured a baking company was believable. His own quirk had to come from somewhere after all, so I can see his family being into something sweets related.

Uraraka's scene in this was inspired by my revelation that she could totally pull of the Legend of Zelda trick of Link gliding from place to place via distressed cucco (chicken)


	10. Chapter 10

The morning after the 'hostage situation' exercise had been entirely normal for Izuku and Shinsou. They went to classes as usual, and walked to the lunch room together. The highlight of Izuku's day so far had been talking to Kure about Selkie, her pro-hero uncle. Which was followed closely by going to lunch with Shinsou, because having someone to regularly eat with was still a bit of a thrill for him. Shinsou felt similarly, and was most looking forward to lunch because Midoriya had mentioned plans for Sport's Festival prep during Literature.

So both of them were wholly unprepared for when Uraraka and Iida to raced up to their table and slamed their trays down across from them.

"Oh my gosh I can't believe you guys did that!"

"Indeed! Risking yourselves like that for an exercise was entirely unnecessary!"

"You guys did better than ANY other hostage group!"

"It was reckless!"

"It was great!"

"Uraraka we are not encouraging this!"

"Speak for yourself."

Izuku stared at them in befuddlement and Shinsou raised an eyebrow.

"Good grief, just tell us what you're going on about already."

"We reviewed the footage from the hostage training with Aizawa this morning. I can't believe you guys managed to escape from Tokoyami and Mineta AND made it to another building before time ran out!" Uraraka's fists were held close to her chest as she bounced excitedly in her seat.

"Well, to be fair, we mostly just escaped from Mineta. Tokoyami had already left by the time we broke out. And it was mostly Shinsou's victory because he was the one that got Mineta under control and kept him from participating so-"

"Don't you start with that." Shinsou cut him off. "You're the one that came up with the plan to go to the roof, and had the idea to use the perv's hair. So it was a team effort."

"Midoriya! **You're** the one that convinced Shinsou to jump off a roof with you?!" Iida looked completely aghast, and Izuku frowned.

"I guess? It didn't feel like I had to do a whole lot of convincing though."

"You didn't. It was a great way to get noticed."

Was it just Izuku, or was Iida's eye starting to twitch?

"Hey! There they are!"

A couple moments later their table was surrounded by a handful of students, ones that Izuku now recognized as being part of Class 1-A. A boy with spiky red hair stepped forward first.

"I just had to say, jumping off that roof to escape the villains was super manly! I'm Kirishima, and I look forward to seeing what you guys do in the future."

"Oh! Uh, thanks! Me too!" Izuku replied. "Wakiya tells us you have a very hard head, which sounds like a really useful quirk."

"You know frying pan girl? She's quite the spitfire huh? I'll have to keep an eye on her too."

"Are you both trying to become pros too, kero?" Asked a girl with her hair tied in a bow. Shinsou sat up a little straighter.

"I am. Midoriya says he's good where he is."

"Seems like you have a really useful quirk. I hope you make it."

Shinsou's eyes widened. "Oh...thank you. Um, you too."

"Could you tell us how that useful quirk works?" Asked a blonde boy with a black bolt running through his hair.

"No."

"Eh, it was worth a shot. I mainly came over to congratulate you on your escape. Mineta's face during the replay was priceless! You've given me so much teasing ammo!"

"You're name is Midoriya, right?" Asked a girl with her black hair done up in a high ponytail. "I must ask, did you do any sort of calculations before you performed the jump?"

Somewhere, amongst all the questions, Izuku leaned over and whispered to Shinsou.

"Maybe we really will go down in history."

Shinsou smirked.

* * *

What Izuku didn't mention was that he'd caught Bakugo watching them. He'd been glaring at them while Izuku and Shinsou talked to the 1-A kids, especially Kirishima, but hadn't approached. Izuku wasn't sure why. He'd seemed to have grudgingly accepted them hanging out with Uraraka and Iida, and he wasn't sure why he'd done that either. Maybe his first outburst had been noticed by the teachers and he'd gotten in trouble? Kacchan probably wouldn't want to risk his position at UA over a quirkless loser. Or maybe he'd decided it wasn't worth his time to police the rest of his classmates.

Theories ran through Izuku's head until the lunch hour ended. The idea that Bakugo may have been avoiding Shinsou never occurred to him. Which was understandable, all things considered. After all, Izuku did not know that, after Shinsou and Bakugo's first encounter, his former friend had tried to get Uraraka and Iida to explain how Shinsou's quirk worked. The latter had only told him to ask Shinsou himself, and the former had refused to comment on the matter entirely. He only stopped badgering them after receiving a warning about threatening his classmates.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, All Might was still on his way to work.

He had meant to be there much sooner of course! Even if the field trip wasn't until the afternoon there was still paperwork and such he had to attend to at the school. The problem was that he kept running into people who needed help. First a hostage situation, then a purse snatcher, there was always something, and he couldn't just turn away!

Although, if he did anything more he'd come dangerously close to reaching his time limit. He'd have to leave class early at this rate...again. Aizawa had already given him grief about that yesterday. He'd used up too much of his pro-hero form before coming to UA, and just barely had enough time to get those two boys down from the roof and direct the class back to home room before he had to run off. Aizawa had found him in the teacher's lounge afterward.

" _If you're serious about being a teacher and keeping your secret then you need to practice better time management. You may be the number one hero, but your students deserve your best, and they won't get it if you keep running yourself into the ground instead of trusting other heroes to do their jobs. Get your priorities straight. If the students aren't the first one, then why are you even here?"_

All Might let out a deep sigh. Aizawa definitely had a point. He'd taken the position to both scout for a successor and to explain why he was spending less time doing hero work. Nedzu's recommendations may have all been upperclassmen, but that didn't mean he should skip out on his time with 1A and 1B. It wasn't fair to them. And who knew? There could be one among them that would make the perfect successor, but he would never know it if he didn't spend any time with them.

He heard someone call out that a hit-and-run had just occurred, and his body moved instinctively to leap in that direction. But then he caught sight of another pro-hero chasing after the offender. They looked young, possibly a rookie or maybe even an intern, but they seemed to be gaining on the car.

Well, they could probably do with the experience. If he hurried to UA now, he'd have just enough time left in his hero form to stay for the whole class. Hopefully.

* * *

Izuku and Shinsou were in English class when it happened.

The principle's voice came on over the PA system, saying that all teachers that were active pros had to report to the principle's office immediately. Present Mic was out of the door seconds later, giving them quick instructions not to leave the room until himself or another UA faculty member came to get them.

The class was silent for all of five seconds before people were talking in nervous voices and texting friends to try and get information. Shinsou and Izuku were among the latter group; one by one their friends from GE and Management replied that they were in the same boat as them.

They didn't hear anything from Uraraka and Iida.

It took several minutes for them to learn that much, but that was all it took for the class to start growing restless.

"How long do you think we should wait?"

"What if we get to the end of class, or even the day, and nobody comes?"

"Do you think we can leave quick to go to the bathroom at least?"

"Should we make a plan in case villains break in?"

Before Izuku was entirely cognizant of what he was doing, he stood up and walked to the front of the class. The anxious chattering quieted a bit as he did so, and ceased entirely as he addressed the class.

"I know everyone is confused, I am too. But unless something drastically changes we need to stay right here and wait like Pres- uh, like Yamada-sensei said. He's been a pro-hero for years, and he wouldn't have left us undefended if he believed we would be in danger."

"But what if they went to deal with villains somewhere else on the grounds and others come here while they are away?" one boy demanded.

"The announcement only called for active pros, not all the teachers in general. Even if the remaining teachers are retired or on leave from their duties they are still heroes and would protect us if that happened." Izuku stated. His tone was confident and firm, allowing no room for doubt in what he said.

"Besdies," heads turned to the back as Shinsou spoke up. "the perimeter alarms aren't going off. So we can't even say for sure why they left."

"Why else would they have left!?" The same boy barked back.

"They could have called an emergency meeting about something." Izuku speculated. "Maybe there was some big break in the Hero Killer case, and the principle wanted all the teachers who patrolled to be informed of it as soon as possible."

"Or maybe they have to go corral a horde of overzealous media again. I heard it took a lot of convincing to shoo them away last time." Shinsou added.

"Either way, we can do our best to be prepared for the unexpected without jumping to the worst conclusions. So let's keep an ear out for what is going on in the hall...and maybe try to get some work done while we wait."

Izuku's reassurance, and the reminder of the pointless panic that happened in the lunch room the other day, did its job. Wishing to avoid going through such a thing again, the students did as Izuku suggested and either listened by the door or found work to distract themselves.

They didn't have to wait very long. After another 15 minutes a retired hero called 'Makeshift' entered the classroom, showing off her ID to confirm she is a part of the Support Department staff. She had graying black hair and a decent amount of lines on her face in the ID photo, but the news she carried now added some new ones.

She told them the rest of the school day had been called off, due to intruders that appeared within UA grounds. Once she had settled the panicked outburst that followed, she assured them that the threat had been dealt with and that no students had been seriously hurt. There were now plenty of heroes and police on the grounds and surrounding the gate to ensure the students would be safe as they left. After that she escorted the class to the main entrance, told them to be safe, and then left to get another class.

Shinsou and Izuku waited outside the gates of UA, hoping to catch Uraraka or Iida on their way out, and make sure they were okay. They waited, and waited. They saw Naya, Obara, and the rest of the gang, who didn't know anything more than they did. Izuku texted his Mom to let her know he was alright but would be late, and Shinsou texted the same to his parents. They saw the kids of Izuku's homeroom, who also hadn't heard anything new. It was getting late.

"They're probably okay, right? They just got held up...or left earlier than we did." Izuku reasoned.

"I have heard it can take a while to be questioned by the police."

"We should probably go and try to contact them again when we get home."

"Yeah, my big baby of a cat needs his medicine pretty soon."

It still took them a few minutes to actually leave.

They established a video call with each other as soon as they got home. Well, 'as soon as' meaning 'as soon as their respective parents let go of them long enough for them to do so...and after Shinsou tended to his cat'.

"Have you heard from them yet?" Izuku asked as soon as he saw Shinsou.

"Nope. Gonna send them an invite?"

"Already on it."

They both sat in silence while the application's 'calling' tune played, echoing itself slightly as one signal was sent just a second after the other. The only other sound was the 'mmrp!' that sounded on Shinsou's side of the line. A moment later a large silver tabby cat jumped into his lap, and Shinsou automatically adjusted himself so it could stretch it's legs out and rest its head on his knees. He scratched the cats ears while they both stared at the screen.

Until finally:

"Hey guys!" Uraraka's voice chimed in at the same time her image appeared. She looked tired, and her hair was bit frazzled, but otherwise she looked fine. Izuku let out a sigh, and Shinsou's muscles loosened enough for him to fully sit back in his chair.

"Sorry for taking so long to respond. My parents were on the phone and didn't want to let me go, which is totally understandable, but still-"

"Please accept my apologies!" Iida was already bowing when his part of the screen lit up. "I didn't hear the alert until just now."

"No biggie. It's just good to hear from you." Shinsou replied.

"Definitely! Are you guys okay? A teacher told us that there had been intruders in the school and that they had tried to go after one of the classes, and we hadn't from you so, well, she also said that no students had been hurt but-"

"It's okay Deku! We're fine, and so is the rest of the class. But the teachers got hit pretty hard..."

"They looked to be in excellent care when we left though, so I'm am sure they will recover."

Shinsou and Izuku looked at each other through the screens.

"So...can you tell us what actually happened. We got a pretty basic version."

"Yeah, uh, you don't have to of course, but it would be nice, if you guys are up to it."

Iida's mouth was set in a hard line, and Uraraka looked down for a couple of moments. But then Iida took a deep breath and Uraraka looked up with determined eyes. And they began to speak.

The explanation started awkward and halting, as Uraraka and Iida make the mistake of trying to describe the same thing at the same time. But as it went on, and their perspectives diverged, the tale became smoother. Uraraka ended up speaking longer than Iida, since she had witnessed the whole battle.

Villains had entered the USJ building through some kind of portal. Pro hero 13 had been left in charge of the students while Eraserhead and All Might went in to fight. Eraserhead jumped into the fray right away, and All Might paused just long enough to blast a hole in the side of the building for the students to exit from. They had all run for the new exit, but had been cut off by the portal villain. He used his quirk to scatter them around the building, but Uraraka and Iida managed to avoid being caught.

(Apparently a student named Todoroki was becoming infamous in class 1-A, both because of his performance during their first battle trials, and he'd frozen an entire lake and waterfall solid at the USJ.)

Izuku and Shinsou were on the edge of their seats, the former literally and the latter figuratively. They listened in rapt attention as Iida explained his mad dash to get reinforcements and Uraraka talked about fending off the portal villain. There had been a lot of things happening in the center of the building, among the villains and Eraserhead and All Might. Even Uraraka couldn't tell them what all happened there. All she caould say was that All Might managed to launch the biggest of the enemies into the sky just before Iida arrived with reinforcements.

"I feel I should have been there." Iida confessed. "I wanted to stay and help defend my class."

"Sounds like you ended up helping them plenty. The teachers arriving must have felt like a godsend to everyone else." Shinsou pointed out. Uraraka nodded vigorously.

"It sure did! Even more people could have been hurt if you hadn't gotten help Iida. You did great!"

Iida blushed, and Izuku agreed with Uraraka's assessment. Class 1-A had done amazingly, but it sounded like they had been lucky that only Eraserhead and 13 had been severaly injured. However, there was a niggling little voice in the back of his mind that echoed Iida's thoughts.

 _'I should have been there.'_

"Alright guys, now it's my turn to ask a question." Uraraka said. She placed her hands on her desk and leaned forward. "And I have a very important question."

"Okay..."

"What is it?"

"Is there some confusion about today's events?"

Uraraka narrowed her eyes. "Shinsou." the boy in question raised an eyebrow "What is your cat's name?"

"...what?"

"You have had an adorable cat sitting on your lap this whole time and I do not know it's name and that is a tragedy!" Uraraka declared.

Iida blinked in confusion and Izuku snorted.

"You know what? She's right!" Izuku said through his giggles. "We've been hanging out since the start of school and even I don't know that cat's name."

"Gasp! Shinsou! How could you keep such vital information from us?"

"Hardly vital, I barely use his name anymore."

"I admit I'm starting to get curious myself now."

"Seriously Iida?"

"Please? He's so cute and round! He's gotta have a cute name right?" Uraraka begged. Shinsou rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright, calm down. I named him...Catmentoss."

The other three stared at him.

"Did you name your cat after Cementoss?" Izuku asked.

"Maybe."

"Oh my gosh I was right! That is a cute name!"

"Shut up, I was a kid."

"You still are a kid. We all are."

"Fine Iida, I was a **younger** kid."

Despite all the tenseness and emotions tied up in the story they had just heard/told, they all accepted the change of topic. It was a relief to find something lighter to talk about, and to be able to put off dealing with all those emotions just a little bit longer.

* * *

Sleep did not come easy for Izuku that night, his mind too occupied with wondering and worrying.

He wondered if Uraraka, Iida, and the other 1-A kids were having a hard time sleeping too. If the fear of what they had experienced, of what they had done, of what could have been, creeped up on them in the dead of night. They were two of his first real friends, and he could have lost them today. He could have lost them and all he could do was sit in English class and wait. He really was useless.

" _And what would you have done Deku? Run off and tried to be a hero? Like that would have done anything. They'd end up scraping your brains off the pavement if you did something that stupid."_

The internal admonishment sounded a lot like Kacchan, and it made bury his face in his pillow. He thought he'd accepted that he couldn't be a hero, but apparently part of his brain hadn't gotten the memo. Stupid brain.

All he could do was try harder at the path he was currently on. Try to think of some way that someone in the management course could prevent things like that in the future. But just how was he supposed to do that?

That thought stayed with him as he went to sleep, and it was there when he woke the next morning. It rolled around in his brain all the way to his homeroom class. He was so preoccupied with it that he almost missed Midnight's announcement that the UA Sport's Festival would continue as scheduled. Though, if the announcement hadn't caught his attention then the cheers that followed would have.

A few cracks of the whip and Midnight had the class quieted and gathering into groups to work on their projects once again.

"So, last time we were putting the final touches on what kind of options we wanted our 'villain spotter' app to have. Is everyone satisfied with our diagram of how the main page will look?" Kure asked. There were murmurs of agreement from everyone.

"Should we really call it 'villain spotter'? I mean, we're planning a section to report accidents and natural disaster type stuff too right? So shouldn't it be called 'hero alert' or something like that?" Tahara proposed. Okabe frowned.

"I thought natural disasters would be covered by people calling the standard emergency help line."

"Well, yeah, that's where most of the help would come from, but this app is all about giving people a more direct line to heroes. So that should be included too."

"We can certainly do that, but I think we should focus on the villain reporting aspect for now. Make sure the program we're working on is actually feasible before making it more complicated by adding more options." Kure compromised. "I'll put it down on the 'to do' list, but the main thing we want to figure out now is what step to take next. I've gotten a start on the basic programming but we might want to reach out to some people in the support department for extra help."

"What about making a more durable device for it to be on?" Izuku asked.

"Why would we want to do that? Pretty much everyone has a phone, they don't need another thing to carry around." Tahara pointed out.

"Not for civilians, just for heroes and police. I mean, I know most heroes have phones that are built to last and kept in protective cases, but would it be possible to have a device just for this application?"

"Well, it would probably be possible, especially if we were already planning to get some assistance from the support department." Kure said.

"But again, why?" Okabe asked.

"Well...I talked to some kids I know who were a part of the USJ incident yesterday." Kure leaned forward and Tahara and Okabe sat up straighter. "And they said part of the problem was that there was some interference that stopped any calls from going out. So I was thinking that if heroes are likely to come across stuff like that, then maybe it would be a good idea to put the program on a device that was more resistant to stuff like that."

Tahara was nodding to herself by the time he finished, and Okabe looked thoughtful. Kure was already writing the idea down on her notepad, her claws making little scuff marks on the paper.

"That's definitely something we can explore. We can bring it up when we approach the support department, and if we are looking into actually building something then I say we approach Makeshift. I looked up the support teachers in the staff directory and it sounds like she'd have experience needed to..."

Izuku felt something light and buoyant fill his chest as the others accepted his proposal. It would take time, but maybe if something like that became common place then things like the USJ incident would be less likely to happen. He held onto that feeling as he and his group continued to plan, right up until Midnight called the class to a close. Izuku said goodbye to his classmates and packed his things with a smile on his face. He ended up being one of the very last students ready to leave, and when he went to wave goodbye to Nemuri-sensei, something caught his eye.

"Sensei? May I ask why you have you have a dead tree behind your desk?"

"Oh, yes, this poor old thing." She cooed, heaving the pot up onto her desk. "It was a gift from a sidekick of mine, after they managed to establish their own agency. I was quite proud of them naturally, and they gave it to me as a thank you for giving them their start. Unfortunately I got rather busy lately, and it seems I neglected the poor thing. It's such a shame, it was a lovely gift, and this is just the time of year a sakura sappling should be blossoming and beautiful. That's why I brought it with me today; there are a few people here who have plant based quirks that might be able to bring it back from the brink. So not all hope is lost." She glanced at the clock. "Oh! I should get going, and so should you young man! Don't be late to your next class!" With that, Midnight grabbed her bag and left the room, and her plant behind.

Izuku couldn't help thinking that whoever Midnight brought it to would need to have a pretty powerful quirk to save the sapling. It didn't have a single leaf and the branches looked so lifeless that he doubted he'd see a hint of green if he snapped one. She would need someone capable of bringing it back from the dead, not just healing it.

…...wait

No...maybe...no...but if he was careful...

There were other sakura trees planted on the UA grounds. He passed them everyday on his way in; they were flowering beautifully. And if he wasn't mistaken, there had been a few saplings sprouting beneath them that the groundskeepers hadn't pruned yet.

He really shouldn't.

But it would make her so happy.

But it was dangerous.

It was only a plant. He'd been able to use it safely when working with the bugs hadn't he?

Maybe...just this once...if he was careful...then it would be okay.

Right?

Izuku opened the door and looked out into the hallway. There was no one coming this way. He shut it again and stood in front of the desk.

 _'It'll be okay. Just this once.'_

He took a deep breath, and touched the very tip of the highest branch.

It was like life flowed from his fingertips. The wood beneath his fingers gained a new, healthy sheen. Green leaves grew rapidly out of branches, followed closely be delicate pink blossoms. Within seconds, one would look at this plant and assume it had been lovingly cared for its whole life.

Izuku stared at the beautiful tree for a moment, then bolted from the room.

* * *

Izuku was still freaking out over what he had done when he walked into Literature class. He didn't say anything as he took his usual spot next to Shinsou, and kept only half an ear on what he was talking about with Imari and Wakiya.

"Oh my gosh are you guys pumped for the sports festival? I sure am!"

 _'It's been so long since I used my quirk.'_

"Did you get permission to bring support items with you via your quirk?"

 _'I could hardly think straight during my class after that...I should really ask someone for notes.'_

"Kind of. They said I could bring some support stuff, but put a limit on how much and what kind. The person I met from support, I told you about Mei right? Well, she's the one supplying the items and she's trying to get me to wear something that says I'm sponsored by her."

 _'What if the replacement death takes out one of the adult trees instead?'_

"Makes sense. For Support students the entire point of the festival is showing off their gear. If she's giving you a leg up she should get credit."

 _'The groundskeepers would probably get really mad if that happened.'_

"I know...but I'm worried doing that would make people take my own efforts less seriously. Like if I end up doing well they'll think it was only because of her stuff."

"Then I guess you'll just have to give a good show with whatever else you throw in there."

 _'What if-'_

"Hello? Earth to Izuku?"

Izuku startled and turned to see Shinsou looking at him. "Uh, yeah? What's up?" _'Please tell me I didn't say any of that out loud.'_

"You've been sitting there staring off into space since you got here. You alright?"

"Oh yeah, just lost in thought I guess." Izuku said, forcing a quick laugh.

"You trying to keep what you're planning for the festival under wraps? Must be hard for such a chatterbox." Wakiya said with a sly grin.

"He's not planning to transfer to the Hero course remember? He's probably not thinking about it much at all." Imari countered.

"Well, uh, I wouldn't say I'm not thinking about it, just not in the same way everyone else is. Like, I've been thinking of more ways to test Shinsou's quirk so he can use it better." Which was true. He had been talking to his Mom about a few patients she'd mentioned that might be able to help him test a few theories about it.

"Really? Sweet. Wanna tell me about them at lunch?" Shinsou asked. Izuku nodded, and Imari nudged Wakiya and grinned.

"Better look out. You're not the only General Studies student with a sponsor now."

* * *

They never quite got around to talking about the quirk testing ideas at lunch.

"I'm gonna do my best!" Uraraka could be heard halfway across the lunchroom. She was surrounded by a number of her 1-A classmates, who all seemed similarly pumped up.

"Well, good to see she's not letting everything that happened yesterday bring her down." Izuku said, standing at the end of the line with his tray in hand.

"Yeah...but her energy level is kinda intense right now. I'm honestly thinking of sitting with the other General Students."

They compromise by sitting with the Gen Ed kids and eating quickly, then going over to talk to their other friends before lunch ends. Talk among the Gen Ed kids is all about either stories of the USJ incident, which causes Shinsou and Izuku to be wrung for details once the others figure out how much they know, or talking about interactions they've each had with class 1-A since the 'hostage situation' exercise. Apparently Izuku and Shinsou weren't the only ones to have hero course kids come up and congratulate them on how they did.

When they make it over to where Uraraka and Iida are sitting, things seemed to have calmed down a bit. The Sports Festival still comes up of course, with Uraraka and Iida talking about how they plan to prepare.

"General exercise and working out will be important of course. My brother says that base stamina and strength can have a big impact in how you do."

"Do you have any work out tips? Ones that you'd be willing to share I mean?" Shinsou asked.

"Oh course I'm willing to assist! What kind of physical activities do you currently partake in?"

"...not a whole lot. I do a good bit of walking at my part time job, but that's about it."

"Hmm, that will make things difficult. But still! Every bit of improvement will help!"

"I'm gonna try experimenting with floating heavier things, see if I can up my max limit a bit before the big day. But I'll definitely be doing some working out too." Uraraka chimed in.

"Just be careful not to overwork yourselves all right?" Izuku said. "It'd be bad to burn out before the festival even started, you know? B-but I know you guys can do it!"

Somewhere along the way they ended up asking about Uraraka's earlier declarations, and she told them her inspiration behind wanting to be a hero.

"I know money isn't the best of motivations..." she admitted with a blush.

"I've heard worse." Shinsou said, though it was nearly drowned out by Iida applauding. He assured her that wanting to provide for yourself and family is a perfectly noble reason for wanting to be a hero.

"Yeah, even if the money is important to you, you'll still be a hero right? You'll still be out there saving people and helping those in need." Izuku said, and Shinsou nodded in agreement. They all pretended not to notice her become misty eyed over their encouragement.

* * *

The numerous distractions of the day hadn't stopped Izuku's brain from coming back to what he'd done that morning. He still wondered if he should have risked it, if it was worth it. He was still mulling it over when he returned to his homeroom just before the end of the school day.

"It's wonderful!"

Izuku had been staring at the floor when he walked in, but that exclamation made him look up. Midnight was staring at the plant with wide-eyed wonder, while a younger woman with green skin and thorns for hair gave it a critical eye.

"It seems to be in perfect health. Are you sure it was as bad as you say it was when you left?"

"Of course! Someone must have sneaked in here and gave it a hand after I left! Oh I had no idea I had such an admirer here at the school!" She was practically bouncing with glee. The other woman carefully touched one of the pink petals.

"Well, I'm glad. From your description I wasn't sure I'd be able to help; it sounded pretty far gone. Wonder who could have done it though."

Izuku did his best not to draw attention as he made his way to his desk. He kept his head down as he moved, to hide his pleased smile.

* * *

He ended up walking with Shinsou again after Midnight gave a few closing remarks and released them. He stole glances at the cherry trees as they passed them, and the adult trees were all alive and thriving. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted a tiny little sapling at the base of the tree closest to the school that no longer had any leaves or blossoms.

He thought about everything that happened during the day, as he walked side by side with Shinsou in silence. He decided that, today at least, he hadn't been such a Deku after all. Then he looked at Shinsou, and wondered if he might be able to keep that up.

"Hey Shinsou."

The boy looked at him.

"When would be a good time of day for you go jogging?"

* * *

 **A.N.**

I know some people wanted to see Class 1-A's reactions to reviewing the hostage situation exercise, so I tried to put in some of that here. One day I may decide to write a chapter about the actual review, and if that happens I'll turn this into a series and have it as an aside.

Also, in case it wasn't clear, All Might being present from the beginning of the USJ incident and blowing a hole in the wall caused the students to be in different places when they got transported by Kurogiri, which resulted in certain students being sent to different areas. Hence Todoroki ending up in the flood zone.

Thanks for reading and sticking with the story!


	11. Chapter 11

"Midoriya, I -huff- I can't do this."

"Come on Shinsou, just a little further!"

"You've been -pant- saying that for the last -huff- twenty minutes."

"Let's go to the streetlamp. That's just a little ways away, I know you can make it!"

"Ugh, fine."

Shinsou let out a long breath when he and Izuku stopped their jogging and made it to the streetlamp. He used it to prop himself up, and looked at Izuku.

"There, made it. -pant- We good for tonight?"

Izuku nodded, and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry about taking you on such a long jog. I've been doing this for a while; I forgot how hard it was when I first started. But I figured we'd have to push hard if we wanted to improve at all before the festival..."

Shinsou waved the apology away, then held his hand out for one of the water bottles Izuku was carrying. He quickly handed one over, and Shinsou drank deeply from it.

"Don't drink too fast. You could make yourself sick."

"I'll keep that in mind." He said, sliding down to sit on the sidewalk. "Let's just take a minute here."

"Okay." Izuku said, and sat down next to him.

It was getting late now, long past rush hour and supper time. Maybe they should have waited till later, but eating supper beforehand may have made the first jog worse for both of them. And it probably wasn't a good idea to jog much later, their bodies would need time to calm down before trying to go to bed if they wanted to be up in time for school-

"Take it easy Midoriya, you're using so much breath it's making me feel winded all over again." Shinsou said with a smirk.

It was only then that Izuku realized he'd been mumbling almost the whole time. He blushed and muttered an apology.

"It's fine, you make a good point. Neither one of us knows what we're really doing here, we probably should have made a plan or something first before trying this."

"Yeah...even with only a few weeks to work, training wrong will probably do more harm than not training." Izuku propped his chin up on his palm and thought about what to do. Trying to learn about nutrition or training on their own would take too long with the time they had. It would be easier to ask someone. "Mom was able to give me a few pointers when I first started jogging, but I don't think they apply with a time crunch added in. Would your Dad have any ideas? You said he was a doctor, right?"

"He's not that kind of doctor. He mainly works as a psychiatrist. He can give out medications and stuff, but he's all about the mind and brain. Don't think he could tell us much about conditioning muscles." Shinsou explained.

Izuku sighed. "Let's sleep on it tonight and see what we come up with tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan. You wanna stop by my place quick? It's not too far from here."

Izuku shook his head. "Not tonight. I didn't think we'd be out this late, so I should probably head home before Mom starts to worry. Maybe after we figure out an actual schedule we can fit that in."

"Fair enough. See you tomorrow." Shinsou held out his fist and Izuku bumped it with his own.

"See ya!"

* * *

"Midoriya, you got a minute to talk?" Hizashi asked at the end of their next class.

"Uh, sure." Midoriya said uncertainly. Shinsou raised an eyebrow at Midoriya, who shrugged and waved him off. The other boy nodded and headed out the door.

"You're not in any trouble." Hizashi started with, which made Midoriya visibly relax. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"'Thank you'? What for?"

"I heard from another listener about how you got up and talked to everyone when I had to run off to the USJ. It means a lot to me that you convinced the others to trust us and follow directions."

"Oh, well, you're welcome." Midoriya said, his cheeks turning pink. "But it was nothing, really."

"You stepped up to mic when no one else would; I'd hardly call that nothing."

"But-"

"Are you refusing my thanks little listener?" Hizashi asked, making a show of looking scandalized.

"Of course not! I was glad to help!" Midoriya rushed to say, and Hizashi gave him a winning smile.

"That's what I like to hear. Now, is there anything I can do for you before you head out?"

Midoriya opened his mouth, then shut it again, looking thoughtful. "Well, um, are you busy after school?"

"Not today, why?"

"Well, I sort of have a hobby of analyzing quirks, and I've been wanting to learn more about your support items for a while, so, you know, if you didn't mind..."

"I'd be happy to answer any questions you have after the final bell." Hizashi assured. "Now, get to class before you're late."

"Yes sir! Thank you sir!"

* * *

Shinsou hadn't even needed to ask why Midoriya had been held back by Present Mic. Midoriya had gone into a rapid fire explanation as soon as he'd sat down, which may have been on purpose since they only had about a minute before class actually started. Or maybe it was just Midoriya being excitable, either one was likely.

Whatever the case may be, Midoriya was able to communicate that he was meeting Present Mic after school to grill him about his quirk. That was fortunate for Shinsou, in a way. Midoriya having plans after school gave him just enough of a push forward to talk to a different teacher after class ended.

"Did you have a question about the material?" Mr. Aizawa asked when he came forward. Shinsou shook his head.

"I have a request actually, but I'd prefer to talk about it after everyone else is gone."

Mr. Aizawa's eyebrows rose slightly. At least, he thought they did, the movement was hard to see under all the bandages.

 _'Seriously, shouldn't we have had a sub today?'_

Still, the man didn't question it. Shinsou stood there as the other students trickled out of the room, and wondered if the silence felt as awkward for Mr. Aizawa as it did for him.

"So what is it?" Mr. Aizawa prompted once the last person closed the door behind them.

* * *

"I was going to ask if you'd be willing to give me a few tips on how to train." Shinsou asked, slow and hesitant. Like he might be worried the question crossed some kind of line.

"Can't say I'm familiar enough with your quirk to know how you'd go about training it. What is it?"

"Oh, uh, it's called Brainwashing, but I meant physical training. Like, getting stronger or faster."

 _'Interesting.'_ It wasn't uncommon for students to ask for help with training after the Sports Festival was announced, though the more 'approachable' teachers usually got asked instead. Plenty of people wanted to make it into the hero course, after all. The teachers couldn't take every single kid that asked under their wing, but they would usually get a description of the student's quirk and what the kid was worried about. Then they would give them basic tips like 'try increasing your range', 'practice longer to increase your stamina', 'try more target practice to decrease collateral damage', whatever was appropriate. He didn't often get asked for training advice that wasn't about quirks though.

"So you think you've got your quirk figured out enough that you don't need to work on that?" Aizawa pressed.

"We worked on my quirk earlier in the year, and just relying on that didn't get me through the practical exam. Being with real people will help this time, but I figured being more physically fit can't hurt."

Aizawa sighed. "There's a good bit to unpack there. Why don't you start off with what exactly your quirk is, and we'll go from there."

Aizawa listened intently as Shinsou explained. He could immediately see the usefulness of a quirk like Shinsou's, and the fact that he hadn't gotten into the hero course stirred up an old anger inside him. Aizawa himself had needed to earn his place in the hero course during the Sports Festival because of the practical exam's bias. Not to mention how the boy seemed hesitant to explain his quirk at first. Aizawa could guess that plenty of people had made assumptions about Shinsou based off his quirk, but that was an entirely different can of worms.

What really kept his attention though, was how Shinsou described experimenting with his quirk. He found out that the 'we' he had said earlier referred to himself and his friend Midoriya, who had inspired Shinsou to take a closer look at what all his quirk could do. It sounded like they'd come up with some clever things to explore.

"Midoriya's thought up the majority of them, he's pretty clever when it comes to quirks. I thought of one the other day though. I knew people responding to me in words would allow me to use my quirk on them, but I started to wonder just how much of a response was needed for me to take over. Like, if I could activate my quirk if I made someone laugh, or if they just grunted or something. Turns out that so long as a person makes some noise in response to what I said, then I can activate it. Now Midoriya wants to test if it works when someone responds to me in a foreign language, but he says the person has to actually not understand what I'm saying for it to be really accurate, so that might be hard to test."

"Sounds like you've done some good work exploring your quirk in your free time. But now you want to train your body in case there's a part of the Festival where you can't effectively use it."

"Right."

"Gonna be honest kid, if you really wanted to be ready for the Festival you should have started training a lot sooner."

Shinsou's face hardened. "I know that, but I can't go back and change it now. So I'm gonna do everything I can in the time I have left. Any improvement would be helpful."

Aizawa considered him. Teachers really weren't supposed to have favorites, and he didn't want to appear that he was giving Shinsou special treatment. However, he doubted that any other student would ask for help with this particular matter, so a push in the right direction wouldn't be suspect. Besides, as a teacher, he should do what he can to make sure his students didn't hurt themselves, and pushing your body too far could certainly do that.

"You're familiar with the after school free time, right?"

"That's the couple hours after school where some teachers stay on campus to help supervise study groups and stuff, right?"

"There are a couple of supervised training areas too. Most people use it to develop their quirks more, but it should work for regular physical training too. Do you have anywhere to be right now?"

"I don't work today, so no."

"Then you should have time to go down there and take a few tests for me."

"What kind of tests?" Shinsou asked, his voice a mixture of wariness and curiosity.

"Just standard physical tests that each school requires. I do one at the beginning of each new school year for the hero course, to get an idea of what students need to work on. You do the same, and I can give you a few ideas of what to focus on before the Sports Festival."

"Oh...okay. That would be very helpful, thank you."

"Don't thank me yet kid, I still might declare you a lost cause."

"Understood. Let's go see how pathetic I am."

Aizawa snorted in amusement. As they walked down to the training field, a distant part of Aizawa's mind began to wonder how Shinsou might fit in with the dynamic of Class 1-A.

* * *

After Aizawa had graciously declared Shinsou 'not the worst he'd ever seen' the man did come through with recommendations for how he should train. It seemed to be mainly focused on improving stamina, with some strength building on the side. The list was more detailed than Shinsou had expected, as well as more taxing.

"This is a good sign right? The fact that it's this tiring?" Izuku asked. The pair of them were sitting on a park bench, taking a break from that evening's run. "He must have seen some potential in you if he put you up to training this much."

"Either that or it's a test to see whether or not I'll be able to keep up with it." Shinsou took a sip from his water bottle.

"Why can't both be true?"

"Good point."

Truth be told, Shinsou wasn't sure he'd have kept up with all the recommended training if Izuku hadn't insisted on coming along. He had changed up his own schedule so he could go out running the same time as Shinsou, and kept shouting encouragement whenever it seemed like Shinsou was flagging. Izuku's base stamina was higher than Shinsou's, but with all the extra energy he put into keeping Shinsou's spirit's up, he was nearly as exhausted as Shinsou was by the end of it.

If there was one good thing about taking training head on, it was that Shinsou managed to get to sleep earlier than usual. Even with sore muscles, it was hard to stay awake with his energy reserves all used up. The downside was that the extra training and earlier sleep were cutting into study time for both of them. Shinsou was able to take fewer hours at the vet, but it was still a hassle. Thankfully, they'd come up with a solution in the form of joint study sessions. They would meet at one of their homes right after school, get some work done, go train, then come back home for supper. Working on the homework for their joint classes together helped them both get through it faster, and made it less likely that they'd have to deal with homework while exhausted from training.

"You ready to head back to my place? Mom should have supper ready by the time we get there."

"Yes. Dinner sounds so good, and you're mom is the second best cook I know." Shinsou eagerly agreed. Izuku's eyes went wide.

"Only second best?" He asked in mock offense.

"First place will always go to my Dad. He knows all my favorites."

"Well, I suppose that makes it acceptable."

* * *

"It's your place this time, right?"

"Yep, Mom's planned a whole menu now that she knows more about what you like."

"Have I ever said how cool you're mom is?"

"Only every time you come over, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing it again." Izuku gave Shinsou a grin, which was easily returned. "She also said she'd try to talk to those two patients I mentioned before, so hopefully she'll be able to tell us if they were open to the idea."

"I'm still not sure how I feel about making a foreign person and a Deaf person a part of our quirk experiments, at least not when their stuck in hospital beds."

"We'll have hospital interpreters there to make sure they understand everything that's going on. So long as it's all voluntary it should be fine."

"I'm not holding my breath on them agreeing to get brainwashed, not everyone is as crazy as you."

"I think you'd be surprised. Mom says some patients will do really weird stuff if it means not being bored anymore. Weird and crazy are about the same thing, right?"

Shinsou huffed in amusement. "I guess we'll see."

Apparently Inko was really into the 'surprise menu' she'd come up with this time, because she insisted on the two of them working in Izuku's room. Normally they did homework in the living room, but Inko didn't want to risk them getting a look when she came home with the ingredients.

They started with Literature, since Cementoss was a softy of a teacher who didn't like giving out super hard assignments. Once that was out of the way they moved onto History, since Aizawa was the least forgiving about late assignments. And so they went, subject to subject, until it was almost time to leave for their jog. Izuku excused himself to the bathroom while Shinsou put things away in his school bag. While he did that, a part of Izuku's bookshelf caught his eye. The shelf itself tended to draw the eye, since it was one of the few things in here not covered in All Might posters. What Shinsou had noticed was that the middle shelf had a bunch of familiar looking notebooks stacked up on it, familiar because they were all the same type as the quirk analysis notebooks Izuku carted to school every day.

He stood up and stepped over to look at them. He never realized just how much Izuku had written about quirks. Well, he knew how many notebooks Izuku had filled up, since he numbered all of them, but it didn't really strike him until he saw all of them stacked together like that. Just how long had Midoriya been writing in them?

He took one off the very end, the one that would be 'first' assuming Izuku kept them in the right order. It turns out he did, as the notebook had a large '#1' drawn onto the cover. He opened the cover and flipped through it, smiling softly as he scanned the pages. The kanji were large and had a hard time staying in straight lines, much different from the small, neat writing his friend had now. Midoriya had clearly started this project very early in life, probably as soon as he figured out how to write decently. It didn't surprise him that, even at such a young age, Midoriya had been determined to learn and record everything he could about quirks. Which made it a real pity Izuku never had one of his own to use in experiments.

Shinsou put the notebook back, and something else caught his eye. There was something just barely sticking out from behind the other notebooks. Curious, he pinched the edge and slid it out. It was another notebook, but this one was smaller than the others, like it was meant to be more travel size. It also didn't have a number on it, just the title 'Quirk Journal'.

 _'That's odd. I wonder why it has such a generic title. Maybe this is journal '0', where it really started. If he had one at an even younger age I can understand how even he might have trouble reading it later. Or maybe it's for something more specific, like one he takes when he travels places, or meant just for one person._ ' Shinsou mused. He could picture Midoriya having one journal dedicated specifically to All Might or something. He opened the cover, and saw writing on the inside of it. _'Mementor Mori? I've never heard of a hero or a quirk with that name.'_

Just then, he heard the sound of the bathroom door closing. It very suddenly occurred to him that, even if Izuku didn't mind using the notebooks in public, taking journals off his friend's shelf the very first time he was invited into his friends room might be considered an invasion of privacy. He quickly slotted the 'Quirk Journal' back behind the others and made sure that '#1' was sitting the way it had been before.

"Hey Shinsou, you ready to go?"

"Yep, I'm good, what route are we taking this time?" Did he say that too fast? He felt like he said that too fast. Well, if he did, Midoriya didn't seem to notice.

"We could take the one that goes by the park again, or the one that goes by the beach. Either way we'll have to do our stretches outside since Mom is still trying to block all of the kitchen from sight."

"That's fine, and let's do the path by the beach, since we just did the park the other day."

Shinsou started to walk out and was glad when Izuku followed him right away. Hopefully that meant Izuku hadn't noticed Shinsou looking at the notebooks.

Inko ushered them out when they had to pass the kitchen, making sure the boys didn't turn to look inside. They went out, found the start of their chosen trail, did their stretches, and started running. As usual, when Shinsou started to get tired out near the end, Izuku would call out encouragement and get Shinsou to promise to go just a little further, and then just further than that, until they'd made it the whole way. They were tired and sweaty when they got back, but immediately perked up when they finally got to see what Inko had been working on.

In addition to the main course, she had also made candy apples. During a previous visit Shinsou had mentioned that his favorite fruit was apples, and that he wished candied apples were more available outside of festivals. Apparently she had remembered.

"You boys have both been working so hard lately, and I thought you could use a treat." Inko said, and suddenly Shinsou understood where Izuku got his blinding smile from.

Izuku and Shinsou both thanked her profusely, then dug in. The food was amazing, and Inko had made enough candied apples for Shinsou to bring some home. He was so touched by the gesture, and so worn out by the time that he go home, that questions about 'Memento Mori' had completely fled his mind.

* * *

"Thank you for having me over again Mrs. Shinsou." Midoriya said, bowing respectfully as he entered the house.

"Midoriya, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Haia?" Shinsou's mother asked. She was noticeably taller than his own mother, and had frizzy, black hair that brushed her shoulders. It was from her that Hitoshi inherited his violet eyes.

"As many times as it takes until Shinsou decides to call my mom 'Inko'." It was not the first time he'd said that line. The first time was after Mrs. Shinsou had asked that question for the third time, and he suspected this wouldn't be the last time it was said.

"Then I suppose calling me 'Hansuke' is also out of the question?" Mr. Shinsou called from the kitchen.

"It's only fair." Izuku called back.

"Why do you have to place the responsibility of this decision on me?" Shinsou asked melodramatically. He didn't wait for an answer before heading to his room to get out of his training clothes.

"So, has anything interesting happened down at the clinic recently?" Izuku asked Mrs. Shinsou. The first revelation that Izuku had received about his friend's home life after they started training together was that the vet clinic he worked out was actually run by his mother. Izuku had given him a good amount of grief for never mentioning that when the job was brought up before.

"There's always something interesting going on down there, but we did have some additional excitement earlier today. Someone brought another feral cat in. The poor dear was hissing and spitting up a storm from inside the live trap he'd been caught in. I was able to use by quirk to calm him down enough for a check up and everything, but he went right back to it after I shut it off. It's lucky that one of the staff has a minor healing quirk, otherwise my hands would still be covered in scratches."

"Were you able to use it on him while he was in the trap, or did you gave to open it to grab him?"

"The wires were too close together for me to be able to touch him while it was closed, so we had to open it. He sped out right away, but I've had plenty of practice catching runaway critters by now."

Shinsou Haia's quirk was similar to her son's in that it allowed her to control the actions of others. The differences were that her control was activated by touch rather than voice, and that hers worked better on animals while Shinsou's exclusively affected people. That was one experiment they had skipped over as soon as Izuku voiced it. Apparently Shinsou had already tried using his quirk on the animals at the clinic, and was very emphatic over the fact that it didn't work. Which was a great time-saver, because Izuku hadn't thought far enough ahead to know how he would have quantified an animal 'talking back' to Shinsou.

Anyway, being able to use her quirk on animals made Mrs. Shinsou great at conducting physical examinations. She could activate her quirk while touching the animals and use it to calm them so she could perform check ups and give vaccinations without stressing the animals out. After handling a few particularly 'problematic' patients she gained a reputation among the local shelters and clinics, and often got people referred to her when they had wild or anxious animals that needed medical care.

When Izuku had first heard about her quirk he ended up grilling her on how much she needed to touch a person or animal in order to control them. It wasn't until Shinsou elbowed him that he realized he'd started another muttering session and hadn't even given her time to answer his questions. He had apologized profusely, and she had brushed it off with a smile, but a part of him still felt embarrassed. He'd made a conscious effort not to do the same with Shinsou's father.

Speaking of Shinsou Hansuke, he was in the kitchen, which is where Izuku and Mrs. Shinsou walked to as they talked. The man had his back to them, and was inspecting the contents of a large frying pan. Just like how Izuku had inherited most of his looks from his mother, Shinsou looked so similar to his father that one could immediately tell they were related. They had the same same purple hair, though Shinsou's hair went all over the place while his father only had messy bangs. The rest of his hair was kept pulled back in a short pony tail. Hansuke was also tall, taller than both his wife and son, so it was no wonder how Shinsou tended to tower over Izuku and most other kids in their grade. They also had the same bags under their eyes, albeit for different reasons. Hitoshi tended to look tired because of his sleep disorder; Hansuke looked perpetually tired due to his quirk.

Hansuke's quirk was that he required much less sleep than other people. He could stay awake for a whole week after one night of rest, and could manage a couple more days if he pushed it. Oh yeah, and apparently being awake for a week was almost a requirement. Mr. Shinsou said it was very hard for him to get to sleep if his week of wakefulness wasn't up.

"It was great for when Hitoshi was a baby. Haia almost never had to worry about getting up when he was crying at night." Hansuke had once explained with a fond smile.

"It was very helpful." Haia agreed. "I only had interrupted sleep about once a week. It's also how we learned that a siren could go off in the apartment and it wouldn't wake Hansuke once he was asleep."

"Hey, you try sleeping once a week and see how deeply you sleep."

In the present, the telephone rang and Mrs. Shinsou went to answer it.

"Could you give me a quick hand, Midoriya?" Mr. Shinsou asked.

"Sure, what can I do?"

"The main course is taking a bit longer than I planned. Could you get the ingredients together for the salad? The recipe card is over on the counter."

"Okay."

Izuku found the card detailing what was needed for a 'Spring Mix Salad with Sweet Miso dressing', and started to gather the ingredients together on the counter. Miso, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, and white sesame seeds were gathered from the cupboards, though Izuku had to ask about the location of the last one. Then he went to the fridge for spring salad mix, avacado, red radishes and-

uh oh

The next thing on the list was mini heirloom tomatoes. These he found in the very back of the fridge, which is probably why no one had noticed that they had gone bad. He'd have to tell Mr. Shinsou. He hoped the man wouldn't be too upset over having to change the menu, he seemed to have a thing for matching certain dishes together...

 _'You could make it so he doesn't have to change it.'_ A small voice whispers from the back of his mind.

His mind conjured up images of his teachers' plants coming back to life, both during middle school and at UA. But would his quirk actually work in this case? Were things like fruits or vegetables, on their own, 'alive' enough for him to reverse the decay they underwent? The only way to know for sure was if he tried it...

His mind automatically recoiled from the idea. Testing his quirk here? In these unregulated conditions? It would be too risky, surely.

But they were just tomatoes. Trying it on them wouldn't hurt anybody. Well, it may annoy the neighbors if some of their fruit spontaneously went bad, but they were eating pretty late. It was unlikely he would turn any random tomatoes rotten while someone was in the process of eating them.

Still, it would be much safer to just get a piece of fruit on his own later, let it go bad, and then see if his quirk worked on it.

But if he tried it now and it did work then he would be helping the Shinsou family out, even if it was just a little. Just like how he'd helped Midnight...

"It too warm in here for you?" Mr. Shinsou asked. "I know you kids tend to get pretty hot while out running but you've been standing in front of the fridge for a while now. You want to put your head in the freezer instead?"

"Wah, ah, no sir! I just, um, got lost in thought."

Mr. Shinsou shrugged. "If you say so. Still, should close the door before the temperature in there goes down too much. Wouldn't want anything to bad."

"...right."

Izuku looked down at the bag, and his curiosity won out. He plunged his hand in the bag, making sure he touched every tomato inside at about the same time, then quickly pulled it back out. Before his eyes, every bit of discoloration disappeared and every bit of wrinkled skin smoothed out. That...he had no idea he could do that. Would that work with other types of fruits? Would it work on vegetables? He had to test it. Would that alley he'd used for his beetle experiments work for this too if he found a way to stash a bunch of produce there without it being found?

"Midoriya, is there a reason you're staring at those tomatoes like they hold the secrets of the universe?"

Izuku's head snapped up. Shinsou stood just inside the entrance to the kitchen, now in a pair of jeans and t-shirt, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hansuke wearing a nearly identical expression.

"Uh, no, I think, well, I guess I'm just really tired." Izuku fumbled, hurrying to put the bag down with the other ingredients.

"Join the club." Shinsou said with a yawn. Hansuke scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"I thought he joined the club last time, after the both of you nearly fell asleep at the dinner table."

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that." Shinsou said, trying and failing to keep an amused smile off his lips. "We should have gotten something to mark the occasion."

"I have a coupon for a local print shop. I could order you boys t-shirts." Haia said, re-entering the room with a wide smirk. "Maybe a couple extra, one for Hansuke and another for that teacher that helped you set this whole schedule up?"

Hansuke nodded seriously. "It's only appropriate."

"I'm not gonna hand Mr. Aizawa some 'tired club' t-shirt at school." Shinsou crossed his arms.

"I see. I guess I'll have to send it to the school in the mail then. What was his first name again?"

"Mom no."

The banter continued while Izuku slipped out and grabbed his own things for changing out of his training get-up. He retreated to the bathroom, where he could freak out in peace. He'd said it was just the one time with Midnight, but now he did it again, but he'd learned something new about how his quirk worked. He flip flopped between mortification and elation, and had to actively work on calming his emotions as he got cleaned up. By the time he was done and rejoined the family, the table was already set and food was being dished out.

"Oh, sorry I took so long, I should have been here to help." Izuku said as he took a seat.

"Don't worry about it." Haia said with a wave of her chopsticks.

"Yeah, more my fault. You got in there late because I forgot to tell you the bathroom was free before I went to give the baby his medicine."

"Did he hide under your bed again?" Hansuke asked. Shinsou sighed.

"As soon as he heard me open the pill bottle."

Izuku stayed mostly quiet as conversation drifted among different topics. Thankfully he managed to remember to pick the tomatoes out of his salad before eating it. He didn't want them turning rancid in his mouth. Mr. Shinsou noticed that, and Izuku ended up lying and saying he didn't like tomatoes in his salad, which resulted in a fresh wave of guilt and shame. But, he did feel a little bit better when he saw how much everyone else was enjoying the dish.

"I'm surprised. I bought these a while ago, yet they taste like their freshly picked." Hansuke mused.

"Guess you'll have to go back to that market more often. Or ask them about their supplier." Haia replied.

Izuku stayed silent and didn't look up from his food.

 _'The last time. That will be the last time I use it outside an official, planned experiment.'_

* * *

 **A.N.**

Shinsou's parents in this fic are heavily inspired by the OC's of tumblr user keiid. The tumblr I originally reblogged the posts from has since been deactivated, and I'm not sure if they started up again elsewhere. (if anyone does know then please tell me) So to show you keiid's lovely work, and some works that were inspired by it, I have included a link to the posts I reblogged from them. Keiid did a really awesome job thinking up these guys, and now I can't help but think of their posts whenever I think of Shinsou's possible parents.

You should be able to see the art I was talking about if you go to my tumblr: rosejen309 and add 'tagged/Shinsou's-dad'

Shinsou liking candy apples was inspired by the fact that his voice actor, Wataru Hatano, also likes those a lot.


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